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Solid-state fermentation of cornmeal with the ascomycete Morchella esculenta for degrading starch and upgrading nutritional value

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Abstract

The ability of the ascomycete Morchella esculenta to degrade starch and upgrade nutritional value of cornmeal during solid-state fermentation (SSF) was studied. On the basal medium, α-amylase activity of M. esculenta reached its maximum value of 215 U g−1 of culture on day 20 after inoculation. Supplementation of glucose, yeast extract to the basal medium caused a significant increase in either the degradation rate of starch or the mycelial biomass as compared with control (P < 0.01). Through orthogonal experiments, the theoretical optimum culture medium for SSF of this fungus was the following: 100 g cornmeal, ground to 30-mesh powder, moistened with 67 ml of nutrient salt solution supplemented with 3 g yeast extract and 10 g glucose per liter. Under the optimum culture condition, the degradation rate of starch reached its maximum values of 74.8%; the starch content of the fermented product decreased from 64.5 to 23.5%.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this research by the Shanxi Province Science Foundation (No. 2008012010-2) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Correspondence to Jian-Rong Han.

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Zhang, GP., Zhang, F., Ru, WM. et al. Solid-state fermentation of cornmeal with the ascomycete Morchella esculenta for degrading starch and upgrading nutritional value. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 26, 15–20 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-009-0135-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-009-0135-y

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