COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF VARIOUS AGRO-INDUSTRIAL WASTES FOR SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE BIOMASS PRODUCTION AND ITS QUALITY EVALUATION AS SINGLE CELL PROTEIN

 People in third world and developing countries are suffering from menace of protein deficiency in their diets resulting in serious protein-energy malnutrition problems. The situation, demands exploration of new un-conventional protein sources to fortify human food. The present study was planned to assess the feasibility of using agro-industrial wastes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae production and to evaluate protein quality of produced single cell protein (SCP) biomass. Potato peels contained significantly highest dry matter and carbohydrate content as compared to other wastes. Significantly higher (P=0.00) SCP biomass was produced using potato peels followed by carrot peels. On the basis of higher SCP biomass production, potato peels were selected for further biomass production. The SCP biomass contained 49.29±1.126% crude protein which was non-significant (P=0.1710) compared to commercially available Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The parameters for in-vivo protein quality assay in Sprague Dawley rats were; 93.68% true digestibility, 67.02% net protein utilization, 70.56% biological value, 4.55net protein ration, and 2.75 protein efficiency ratio, which are higher in comparison to most of cereal proteins. The present exploration depicted that Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be efficiently produced utilizing wastes and the produced biomass can potentially be used as protein source in various food formulations.