Cultivation of Yeast Candida tropicalis 212 and Candida utilis 49 in Alfalfa Juice

Milena Mehak, Linda Lončar, S. Matošić and S. Grba

Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Pierottijeva 6, 41000 Zagreb, Croatia

Article history:
Received October 13, 1993
Accepted April 21, 1994

Summary:
Alfalfa juice, the waste product in green mass processing was investigated as nutritive medium for the cultivation of yeasts as an animal feed supplement. The nutritive medium composition was optimized by addition of molasses which was diluted by juice as substitute for water. Both investigated yeasts Candida tropicalis 212 and Candida utilis 49 exhibited similar growth and substrate assimilation kinetics µ = 0.228 h^-1, y _x/s = 0.624 g g^-1). To achieve better productivity as well as economy of Candida yeasts biomass cultivation, the experiments were carried out without steam sterilization of the nutritive medium. It was only disinfected by sodium hypochlorite (γ = 2 g L^-1 ). The results obtained indicate the possibility of a relatively simple and economically favorable production of yeasts biomass on the location of alfalfa plant processing.