Abstract

Fermentation is known to improve the nutritional value of food samples. This study was conducted to assess the influence of fermentation on bush mango in order to reduce environmental pollution. Bush mango seed cotyledons were naturally fermented for five days at room temperature. The bacteria and fungi responsible for the fermentation were isolated and characterised using standard microbiological techniques. The unfermented seeds and fermented residues were analysed for proximate composition, nutrient composition and some antinutrient contents. The bacteria isolated from fermented bush mango seeds were Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis, Aerobacter aerogenes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus faecalis and Clostridium sporogenes. The fungal isolates included Penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Trichoderma viride andRhizopus stolonifer. The results of the proximate analysis show that there was a decrease in fat content of the fermented seeds (65.30%) compared to unfermented seeds (56.13%) while the crude protein and nitrogen free extract increased from 0.54 to 2.25% and 19.71 to 31.08% respectively. The mineral contents (Mn, K, Fe) were found to be lower while P, Mn and Na were high. There was reduction in the phytate (from 1.40 to 0.67) and oxalate (1.26 to 0.72) contents after fermentation. Fermented bush mango seed cotyledons can be used as highly proteinous and low fat food condiment for soup making as well as animal feeds.

Key words: Bush mango seed cotyledons, fermentation, animal feeds.