PROTEIN ENRICHMENT OF BANANA PLANT WASTES BY YEAST CULTIVATION

Banana plant wastes, which are generated in copious amounts during normal agricultural practice, contain between 35% and 60% starch on a moisture-free basis. A dextrin-containing liquid extract, obtained after liquefaction of the plant starch with a commercial thermostable alpha -amylase, was used as substrate for the cultivation of Candida utilis. Saccharification of the dextrins, to enable growth of C. utilis, was effected with either a commercial glucoamylase or by the co-cultivation of Lipomyces kononenkoae with C. utilis. The saccharification efficiency obtained with this amylolytic yeast proved comparable with that of the commercial glucoamylase, and a dry biomass concentration of 14. 86 g litre** minus **1, with a crude protein content of 47. 4%, was reached in the hydrolysate.