Biochemical analysis of some fruit peels and comparison of Lactic acid production by authochthonous Lactic acid bacteria using fruit peels

Waste to wealth is a common trend in the world today. This work reports the utilization of waste fruit peels for production of lactic acid using authochthonouslactic acid bacteria. Peels of mango, orange and banana were prepared in powdered form, pretreated with HCl and added as carbon source for lactic acid production. The proximate analyses of the substrates were done. The organisms used for fermentation were isolated from spoilt banana and identified using biochemical and molecular tools. These organisms were grown using different growth factors over a period of eight days with initial pH of 6.0. Growth factors were then varied in order to optimize the yield of lactic acid. Percentage production of lactic acid was determined every 24 hours. The optimized conditions were then combined for further comparison. Isolated Lactobacillus plantarumand Lactobacillus caseiwere used for the production of lactic acid. The carbohydrate content of mango, banana and orange peels (62.48%, 55.34% and 57.06% respectively) showed that it was sufficient for use as a carbon source. The highest yield of lactic acid (27.10%) was at pH 6.0 with 2g of substrate and 1 ml inoculum at day six by Lactobacillus caseiwhile the highest yield by Lactobacillus plantarum (23.85%) was at pH 6.0, with 4g of substrate and 2 ml inoculum at day six. The highest production of lactic acid was derived when mango peels were used. The results of this study showed that lactic acid can be produced using mango, orange and banana peels.