+44 330 818 7254Ese Ogugu Siemuri, Jacob Kehinde Akintunde* and Adeyinka Elizabeth Ajiboye
Cowpea (Vigna Uguiculata) seeds are nutritious components in the human diet; they contain 63.66 starch, 24.8 protein and 1.9% lipid-fat. Acid-hydrolysis of powdered cowpea extract leads to the breakdown of its complex molecules into simple materials. The hydrolysis of protein in the presence of an acid catalyst gives amino acids, which serves as nitrogen and carbon source for yeast growth. The acid-hydrolysed cowpea filtrates were now tested for yeast growth by culturing or growing the yeast on the media at a variable pH of 5.18 – 5.96. It was observed that test-tube labelled A and B has the highest mean absorbance of 0.810 and 0.882 at 0.5 and 1.0 g/ml cowpea filtrate level in relation to the normal yeast media. Hence, acid-hydrolysed cowpea at a concentration of 0.5 and 1.0 with pH of 5.56 and 5.58 which is cheap and commonly available can be used in growing yeast in the laboratory especially during industrial bumper production. Also, the amino acid content of the cowpea revealed highest in glutamic acid, aspartic acid, leucine and lysine by 1000, 700, 450 and 400% respectively.
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