Production of Candida Biomass from Hydrolysed Agricultural Biowaste

ABSTRACT

Agricultural residues (wheat bran, oats bran and rice husk) rich in carbohydrates was utilized in fermentation processes to produce microbial protein which in turn can be used to upgrade animal feeds and agricultural composts. Two kinds of yeast, identified as Candida tropicalis and Candida utilis were studied for their possible utilization in biomass production. The cells of C. tropicalis produced biomass with higher content of protein (0.55 g.g⁻¹) than cells of C. utilis (0.48 g.g⁻¹), cultivated on hydrolyzed wheat bran. The total content of the essential amino acids was highest in the biomass of C. tropicalis, cultivated on hydrolyzed wheat bran (403.5 mg.g⁻¹ DCW). One of the salient features of the amino acid contents of cells of C. tropicalis was the high content of lysine: 82.5, 73.5 and 65.2 mg.g⁻¹ DCW for hydrolyzed wheat bran, oats bran and rice husk, respectively. The results reveal that the C. tropicalis and C. utilis used in this study, grown on agricultural residues (wheat bran, oats bran and rice husk) as substrate, are promising yeast strains for the production of single cell protein.

Keywords:

• agricultural biowaste transfomation
• biomass production
• Candida sp.