Effects of fermentation on nutrient enrichment of locust beans (Parkia biglobosa, Robert bam)

Abstract

Locust beans were fermented to assess its effect on the nutrient composition as well as the qualitative and quantitative determination of the microorganisms involved in the process. Chemical analysis was carried out on the beans to obtain its proximate composition. The average mean composition of carbohydrate was found to decrease from 19.30% of the raw sample to 17.09% of the fermented locust beans; while the moisture content increased from 12.00 to 42.65%, the fat content decreased from 21.02% of raw sample to 10.10%; ash content decrease from 4.47% of unfermented locust beans to 4.31% of fermented locust beans. The crude fibre also decreased from 13.06 to 8.53 in the fermented locust beans. Protein content decrease from 30.14 of unfermented locust beans to 17.32 of fermented locust beans. The pH of the locust beans also increase to 7.93 in the fermented sample from the 5.31 in the raw sample. The identities of the organisms involved in the fermentation were found to be Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus sp. for bacteria and Fusarium, Aspergillus and Penicillium sp. for fungi. © 2007 Academic Journals.