Production of Single Cell Protein from Indigenous Fungi Ashbya gosypii and Aspergillus fumigatus

Aims: The aim of this study was producing single cell protein (SCP) by using Ashbya gossypii and Aspergillus fumigatus which are isolated from Senna obtusifolia (sickelpod “kawal”) using Sabouraud’s dextrose agar medium.

Study Design: This study was designated as an experimental study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Al-Neelain University, Khartoum – Sudan “1st March to 30th June 2015”.

Methodology: The microbial biomass was obtained by inoculation of test microorganisms in different types of substrates including molasses substrate and mixture of banana peels plus wheat bran in equal amounts. The qualitative detection of protein in single cell protein biomass was done by ninhydrin method and agarose gel electrophoresis.

Results: The present study showed that Aspergillus fumigatus gave moderate (9.6 g) to significant (16 g) biomass while Ashbya gossypii gave none (0.0) or small (4.9 g) yield of biomass.

Conclusion: According to these results, Aspergillus fumigatus are better than Ashbya gossypii in production of single cell protein which produced larger amount of dry weight in both substrates as 6.8 g when use molasses and 14 g when use the mixture of banana peels and wheat bran, compared with zero gram (0 g) and 4.6 g dry weight produced by A. gossypii. This indicates A. fumigatus can be used in large scale industrial production. This myco-protein is considered as generally regard as safe to use as alternative source of protein in food and animal feed unless more experiments are done.