Effects of <i>in vitro</i> multi-enzyme treatment of fibre content on un-decorticated sunflower seed meal

Abstract

A multi-enzyme mixture containing xylanase, glucanase and cellulase activity produced from Penicillium fumiculosum was applied to undecorticated sunflower seed meal (USFM) to degrade its fibre content and improve other chemical constituents. USFM was treated with different concentrations of the multi-enzyme solution at different pH and time. Proximate composition of the test ingredient was carried out before and after the enzymatic treatment in four replicates. Proximate evaluation showed that USFM contained 204.5, 336.2, and 192.2 crude protein, ether extract and soluble carbohydrates respectively. Phosphorus was the most abundant mineral followed by potassium and calcium. Amino acid profile showed that lysine was more abundant in USFM compared with soybean meal. Treatment with enzyme showed that crude protein increased by 2.78% while ether extract remain unchanged. Also, a 16.27% reduction was recorded in the Crude fibre value when USFM was incubated with enzyme. Crude fibre degradation was improved as temperature increased while at temperature beyond 450C, there was a reduction in the effectiveness of the enzyme. The highest degradation of crude fibre was recorded at pH 5 while an increase in the length of incubation led to improvement in crude fibre degradation and crude protein availability. It was concluded that the use of multi-enzyme in USFM enhances and improves utilization of proximate constituents.

Keywords: Sunflower meal, Multi-enzyme, Fibre degradation