Vol. 7 No. 1 (2004)

Articles

Chemical changes during spontaneous and lactic acid bacteria starter culture fermentation of bushera

Published 2004-12-31

  • Charles M.B.K. Muyanja
    • ,
  • Judith A. Narvhus
    • ,
  • M. J. Brovold
    • ,
  • Toril T. Langsrud

Charles M.B.K. Muyanja
Department of Food Science and Technology, Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda

Judith A. Narvhus
Department of Food Science, Agricultural University of Norway, P. O. Box 5036, N-1432 Ås, Norway

M. J. Brovold
Department of Food Science, Agricultural University of Norway, P. O. Box 5036, N-1432 Ås, Norway

Toril T. Langsrud
Department of Food Science, Agricultural University of Norway, P. O. Box 5036, N-1432 Ås, Norway

Abstract

Bushera is a fermented sorghum beverage which is widely consumed in Uganda. It is not clear whether the process of fermentation affects some nutrient attributes. Thus a study was conducted to monitor changes in dry matter, total soluble solids (TSS), protein content, and composition of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) storage proteins (kafírins) during spontaneous and lactic acid bacteria starter culture fermentation of bushera for up to 96 h at 30°C. Results show that dry matter and TSS decreased by about 41% and 58%, respectively, during spontaneous fermentation of bushera. Starter cultures had very little effect on the dry matter and TSS of bushera. Fermentation had no marked effect on protein content of bushera. The SDS-PAGE banding pattern showed the presence of various proteins of different molecular weights, in addition to α₁-, α₂-, β-, and γ-kafirins. The predominant kafirin protein was α-kafirin. SDS-PAGE did not show any protein degradation during fermentation.

Keywords

Kafírins, protein content, SDS-PAGE, soluble solids

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