Poster Presentation 2-13

 

Coconut Water:  A Raw Material for Geotrichum sp. Growth

and Flavor Production

 

 

E. C. Lopes1, L. M. Bruno1, E. S. Brito1, F. Augusto2 and G. A. S. Pinto1*

 

1Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation/EMBRAPA

Tropical Agroindustry Research Center

Dra. Sara Mesquita, 2270

Fortaleza/CE – Brazil – 60511-110

Phone:  55-85-299-1811

Fax:  55-85-299-1833

E-mail:  gustavo@cnpat.embrapa.br

 

2Campinas State University/UNICAMP - Campinas/SP - Brazil

 

 

 

Coconut water is rich in sugars (mainly glucose and fructose) and mineral salts.  Research indicates different applications, such as semen cryopreservation and microbial cultivation. The genus Geotrichum is a yeast-like fungi with great potential for biotechnological production of flavors and lipase.  The aim of this work was to evaluate the growth of Geotrichum sp. ATCC 96884 in coconut water and the production of lipase and flavors. 50 mL of sterile coconut water was inoculated with 0,01mg.L-1 of Geotrichum cells and incubated in a shaker at 30°C for 96 hours. Samples were taken at intervals of 24 hours and biomass, pH, reducing sugars, extracellular protein and lipase were determined.  Flavors produced were identified by GC-MS.  The results showed that Geotrichum presented a good growth in only sterile coconut water.  The addition of yeast extract and peptone increased the growth; however, addition of ammonium sulfate and sodium nitrate had no effect.  No lipase was detected, probably due to glucose presence.  Flavors identified were alcohols, esters and short chain carboxylic acids.