Solid-state Fermentation of Cottonseed Meal with Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Gossypol Reduction and Nutrient Enrichment

Background: An experiment was conducted to study the effect of solid-state fermentation (SSF) of cottonseed meal (CSM) with Saccharomyces cerevisiae on anti-nutritional factors and amino acid profile. Methods: A finely ground CSM was fermented with baker’s yeast for 48 h at room temperature with periodic observations of pH, temperature and moisture. The fermented substrate was partially sun-dried and nutritional values were observed. Result: After the SSF process on dry basses, the protein content of CSM increased from 8.74% to 12.67%. Besides increasing the nutritional value, the SSF showed a clear significant effect in reducing the anti-nutritional factors content of raw CSM like total gossypol from 0.28% to 0.21%, phytic acid from 3.3% to 0.3% and total tannin from 1.42% to 0.68%. CSM fermented with S. cerevisiae improved concertations of essential amino acids viz., histidine, isoleucine, valine, methionine and phenylalanine. The protein quality evaluation showed a significant increase in its nutritional value. Based on the present result, it can be concluded that the fermentation of CSM with S. cerevisiae decreases the anti-nutritional factors and improves essential nutrients.