Contribution of selected fungi to the reduction of cyanogen levels during solid substrate fermentation of XXXX .

@entity7144 @entity7243 @entity137 @entity27371 @entity66959
The effect of six individual strains of the dominant microflora in solid substrate fermenting @entity7243 on cyanogen levels was examined. Six out of eight batches of disinfected @entity7243 root pieces were incubated for 72 h after inoculation with either of the fungi Geotrichum candidum, Mucor racemosus, Neurospora sitophila, @entity7144 and Rhizopus stolonifer, or a Bacillus sp., isolated from on-farm fermented @entity7243 flours from Uganda. One non-inoculated batch was incubated as a reference. Levels of initial and final moisture and cyanogens were assayed. The experiment was done in quadruplicate. Incubation of disinfected root pieces reduced cyanogenic @entity27371 levels significantly to 62.7% (SD 2.8) of the initial value. Microbial growth resulted in significant additional reduction of the cyanogenic @entity27371 levels to 29.8% (SD 18.9) of the levels which were obtained after non-inoculated incubation. Among the tested strains, N. sitophila reduced cyanogenic @entity27371 levels most effectively, followed by R. stolonifer and @entity7144 . Of all fermented samples, both Rhizopus spp. showed highest proportion of residual cyanogens in the @entity66959 form. Flours showed similar patterns of cyanogens as the batches they were prepared from. Cyanogenic @entity27371 level reduction was significantly correlated (r = 0.86) with the extent of root softening. It is concluded that both incubation and microbial activity are instrumental in reducing the potential @entity137 of @entity7243 during the solid substrate fermentation and that effectiveness varies considerably between the species of microorganisms applied.
