THE ROLE OF LINAMARASE IN CASSAVA (MANIHOT ESCULENTA) DETOXIFICATION DURING FERMENTATION FOR GARI PRODUCTION
THE ROLE OF LINAMARASE IN CASSAVA (MANIHOT ESCULENTA) DETOXIFICATION DURING FERMENTATION FOR GARI PRODUCTION
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Date
1981-10
Authors
ONYIKE, ELEWECHI EJENMA
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Abstract
The detoxification of fermenting cassava through hydrolysis of the constituent cyanogenic glucosides was attributed to endogenous linamarase activity rather than to the hydrolytic activity of organic acids generated by the fermentative activity of micro-organisms; The addition of partially purified cassava cortex linamarase to fermenting grated cassava resulted in 8-fold detoxification; and the gari produced contain innoucuous levels of cyanide. D-glucono (1—>5) lactone reduced linamarase activity considerably, while the cyanide content still remained high* Microbial source of linamarase-like activity was sought. Some fungi; enicillium citrinum., Aspergillus zydowii Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus Ochraceous Fusarium equiseti, Fusarium Moniliforme Penicillium steckii, have shown the ability to catalyze formation of p~nitrophenolate ion from para-nitrophenyl-^i-D glucoside, an analogue of linamarin. They were also able to hydrolyze lina-marin; linamarase assay indicated presence of cyanide. Quality control tests on 13 gari samples from different localities in Nigeria were conducted. Factors considered were crude fiber, starch, acidity, swelling power, moisture content, cyanide level, appearance and foreign material., Based on these quality criteria including taste, the laboratory made gari scored very high.
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DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY FACULTY OF SCIENCE AHMADU BELLO UNIVESITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA.
Keywords
ROLE,, LINAMARASE,, CASSAVA,, MANIHOT ESCULENTA,, DETOXIFICATION,, FERMENTATION,, GARI PRODUCTION