Nanobiotechnica Universale Vol. 1(2), 127-132 (2010).

Production of Single Cell Protein from

Saccharomyces cerevisiae by utilizing Fruit Wastes
Mahnaaz Khan, Shaukat Saeed Khan,
Zafar Ahmed and Arshiya Tanveer
Department of Microbiology, Saifia Science College,
Bhopal 462001, M.P. (India)
ABSTRACT
In the present investigation the Saccharomyces cerevisiae
was grown on various fruit wastes such as banana skin, mango
waste, sweet orange peel, rind of pomegranate and apple waste
for the production of single cell protein. The disposal of wastes is
a serious problem and their deposition poses health hazard for all
the living beings. The problem was undertaken because on one
hand there is disposal problem and on the other majority of our
population is living below poverty line and is suffering from
malnutrition. The protein from microbes is cheap, easy to obtain
in crude form, nutritive and can be made available as a food or
feed additive to increase its nutritional value. A comparative study
of fruit wastes revealed that banana skin generates highest
amount of protein, followed by that of rind of pomegranate, apple
waste, mango waste and sweet orange peel respectively with
58.62%, 54.28%, 50.86%, 39.98% and 26.26% crude protein
per 100 g of substrate used.
Key words: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Single cell protein,
fruit wastes, malnutrition, food and feed additive.

INTRODUCTION
Proteins are building blocks of
all the living beings. They are needed
in growth and development; they form
backbone of nucleic acids in the form
of histone proteins and in the form of
enzymes carry out a number of biochemical reactions which run round the

clock uninterrupted and with precise and

specific perfection. They are needed
in much more quantities than any other
metabolite and their destruction or
degradation ultimately extinguishes
the flame of life. The protein comes from
a number of vegetables, cereals and fruits,
often not affordable by a common
man and therefore microbial proteins

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can be an alternative source to feed
economically down trodden communities in the world in general and India
in particular.
The production of Single cell
protein began in the late 1960s. The term
single cell protein (SCP) refers to dead,
dry cells of micro-organisms such as
yeast, bacteria, fungi and algae which
grow on different carbon sources. The
name single cell protein was used
for the first time, twenty years ago by
the M.I.T. professor Carol Wilson to
give a better image than microbial
protein14.
SCP production technologies
arose as a promising way to solve the
problem of worldwide protein shortage.
They evolved as bioconversion processes
which turned low value by-products,
often wastes, into products with added
nutritional and market value 13. The
novelty of unwanted waste product
consumption added a new economic
incentive to SCP production, as the
idea of zero cost substrates, or even the
generation of additional revenues through
the concept of waste treatment were
argued and incorporated favourably to
reduce the production cost estimates.
The benefits of SCP production were
thus extended from the production of
food to the preservation of the environment.
It is an established fact that
despite manifold increase in organization and industrialization, majority

of our people live below poverty line and

are malnourished and deserve immediate
attention of the authorities in general
and scientists in particular for making
them available with balanced food and
nutritive diet, which comprises of all
necessary ingredients including proteins
which are desperately needed for their
healthy growth and development.
Moreover, there is problem of disposal
of organic wastes mainly comprising
of vegetable and fruit residues. It is
therefore thought imperative to make
use of these affordable cheap substrates
for culturing fungal species which can
be harvested as a source of SCP to be
used as such for human and animal
consumption or as a supplement in the
food and fodder. This will enable at least
to some extent to help malnourished
and to minimize the load of pollution.
Thus, if the waste is utilized regularly
and systematically for the production
of SCP, it will be a source of protein
at affordable cost. SCP appears to be
the only feasible approach to bridge
the gap between requirement and
supply of proteins11.
The present investigation has
been carried out to study the production of single cell protein using
Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown on
various fruit wastes.
MATERIAL AND METHOD
Before embarking on the present
problem, glass wares such as beakers,
Petri plates, test tubes and conical

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flasks were thoroughly washed and
sterilized and kept in a hot air oven
for further use.
Fruit residues of banana, mango,
sweet orange, pomegranate and apple
were collected from juice outlets
situated at Imami Gate, New Market
and Arera Colony localities of Bhopal.
The collected material was thoroughly
washed under running tap water and
then transferred into beakers and
conical flasks after weighing a specific
quantity of residue and it was subjected
to autoclaving at 121 oC and 15 Psi
pressure for 45 minutes. The sterilized
material was transferred to pre-sterilized
Petri plates and inoculated with
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (NCIM No.
3458) obtained from National Collection
of Industrial Microorganisms (NCIM),
National Chemical Laboratory (NCL),
Pune. The inoculated Petri plates were
aseptically covered and placed in an
incubator maintained at 27 2 oC.
These Petri plates were observed time
to time from second day onwards for
cellular growth. After the appearance
of thick cellular growth the biomass
thus produced was carefully removed
and transferred onto Whatmann filter
paper No. 1 which was fitted into a
glass funnel, the stem of which was
inserted into a boiling test tube which
in turn was placed in the test tube
stand. A cellular biomass was gently
washed with distilled water to remove
adhering particles if any. The filter

papers containing the biomass were

dried at 90 2oC for 24 hours to get
moisture free fungal contents. The fungal
biomass was estimated for the protein
contents by Kjeldahl method5.
For getting dried biomass other
workers have reported different temperatures and durations. For instance,
Tuntapatchalern and Vananuvat 12
reported the dry weight estimation of
Candida utilis grown on pineapple
juice at a temperature of 100 oC. But
they did not specify the duration of
drying. However, Omar and Sabry 9
treated the fungal biomass at a
temperature of 105 oC for 24 hrs.
RESULT
A comparative study of fruit
wastes revealed that banana skin
generates highest amount of protein
per 100 g of substrate used, followed
by that of rind of pomegranate, apple
waste, mango waste and sweet orange
peel. In the present problem, the
amount of crude protein estimated by
Kjeldahl Method was found to be
58.62%, 54.28%, 50.86%, 39.98%
and 26.26% respectively (table-1).
Thus under uniform conditions of
experimentation to achieve higher yield
of mycelial biomass and as a consequence
higher amount of fruit protein from
S. cerevisiae, banana skin is therefore
comparatively best substrate out of
the five fruit wastes used.

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Crude protein (%)

70
60

58.62

54.28

50

50.86

40

39.98

30

26.26

20
10
0

eg
om

n
ra

e
at
M

go
an

a
an
n
Ba

t
ee
w
S

ge
an
r
o

pl
p
A

Substrate

Fig. 1. Single cell protein production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

using various fruit wastes

Table-1. describes the Biomass

Production by Saccharomyces
cerevisiae in various fruit wastes
taken in the present investigation
Substrate
Crude protein
percentage (%)
Rind of pomegranate

54.28

Mango waste

39.98

Banana skin

58.62

Sweet orange peel

26.26

Apple waste

50.86

No supplements such as inorganic

nitrogen sources, carbon and glucose
sources were used to grow S. cerevisiae
on fruit wastes and therefore this
process of SCP production becomes
cheaper.

However, many researchers in

their studies have used inorganic supplements for the mycelial growth on waste
materials. Ojokoh and Uzeh8 utilized
glucose (2% w/v) and (NH 4) 2HPO 4
(0.25% w/v) as a nitrogen source
supplement for the production of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae biomass in
papaya extract medium. Similarly, Adoki1
studied various factors influencing cell
biomass production with Candida
species using citrus fruit wastes and
found that the test strain was capable
of meeting its amino acid requirements
in culture when supplied with inorganic
nitrogen sources. Supplementation of
media with 0 15% and 0 6% w/v
combination of dextrose and ammonium
nitrate respectively resulted in optimal
growth at a pH of 4.6 after 60 h.

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DISCUSSION
Nowadays people are becoming
health conscious and consume large
quantities of fruits and fruit juices leading
to the accumulation of fruit wastes.
The disposal of wastes is a serious
problem and their deposition poses health
hazard for all the living beings. These
wastes can be used as a substrate for
the growth of food fungi such as
Aspergillus oryzae, Rhizopus oligosporus
and several species of Agaricus and
Morchella, the sources of protein, which
may be utilized as a feed supplement
for domestic animals and cattles and
if found suitable for human consumption.
A variety of fruit wastes have been
used as substrates for the production
of SCP by various researchers. Kamel3
reported the use of dates as a potential
substrate for the production of single
cell protein. Sweet orange residues
have been used for SCP production
by Nwabueze and Oguntimein7. Sweet
potato residue has been used for SCP
production by Yang15. Rahmat et al.,10
used apple pomace for the production
of single cell protein from Kloechera
apiculata and Candida utilis so as to
improve stock feed.
Pineapple cannery effluent has
been utilized for SCP production by
Nigam6. Essien et al.,2 utilized banana
peel as a substrate for mould growth
and biomass production. Production
of fungal biomass on fruit and other
agricultural wastes shall not only
minimize loads of pollutants but at

the same time the malnourished people

can have protein supplement at an
affordable cost.
Khan et al. 4 investigated the
production of fungal single cell protein
using Rhizopus oligosporus grown on
fruit wastes. The study revealed that
papaya fruit waste generates highest
amount of protein per 100g of substrate
used, followed by cucumber peelings,
pomegranate rind, pineapple fruit skin
and watermelon skin respectively with
59.5 mg, 57.3 mg, 51.6 mg, 48.0 mg
and 43.2 mg crude protein respectively.
The degree of fungal biomass
growth depends on the type of substrate
used. The present investigation (Table
1, Fig. 1) clearly reveals that for S.
cerevisiae, banana skin is the best
substrate followed by that of rind of
pomegranate, apple waste, mango
waste and sweet orange peel. Thus,
fruit and vegetable wastes should be
exploited properly as a substrate for the
production of cellular biomass of edible
or food fungi instead of dumping them
on roads, in the drains and water
bodies so that they can be used as
animal feed supplement and if suitable,
for human consumption as well with
least expenditure of money.
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1. Adoki, A. (2008). Factors affecting
yeast growth and protein yield
production from orange, plantain
and banana wastes processing
residues using Candida species.

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Nanobiotechnica Universale Vol. 1, Issue 2, 31 December, 2010 Pages (95-178)