Effect Of Extent Of Fermentation On The Amino Acid Composition Of African Oil Bean (Pentaclethra macrophylla, bentham) Seed.

Abstract

The effect of extent of fermentation on the amino acid composition of African oil bean seed was studied. The result revealed a total of 17 amino acids (excluding tryptophan) with glutamic and aspartic acids as the predominant amino acids. The total amino acid value of 82.66g/100g protein was obtained in the unfermented seed portion. This value increased to 109.17g/100g protein after 120 hours of fermentation. This value represents an increase of 32.071% in the   total amino acid composition of the seed portion after fermentation for 120 hours. The total essential amino acids (excluding tryptophan) made up 35.16g/100g protein in the unfermented seed portion. This increased to the value of 47.9g/100g protein after 120 hours of fermentation. These values represent an increase from 42.54% in the unfermented seed portion to 43.88% of total amino acid in the fermented seed portion after 120hours of fermentation. The essential amino acids had the highest value of 44.21% of the total amino acid composition after 48 hours of fermentation. The range of values (3.88% -5.07% ) for valine  and (3.20%- 5.07%) for  isoleucine, from the unfermented to 120 hours (5 days) of fermentation of the  African oil bean seed sample were higher than FAO/WHO/UNU reference values for valine (3.5%) and isoleucine (2.8%) while isoleucine value of 5.07g/100g protein, after 120 hours of fermentation, was above the recommended value for infant but adequate for both pre-school children between the age of 2 and 5 years, school children between the age of 10 and 12 years and adult. The lysine value (5.02%) after 120hours of fermentation was comparable to the reference standard value of 5.08%. The leucine values from zero hour of fermentation (6.03%) to the value (6.66%) after 72 hours of fermentation were comparable to the standard reference value of 6.6%. However, the values after 96 (6.94%) and 120 (8.36%)  hours of fermentation were higher than the reference value for leucine.  Keywords: amino acid, essential amino acid, fermentation, legume, seed, „ugba‟