Ethanol production from native yeast isolated from local cultivars of Musa sp

Ripe banana fruit is used to isolate and identify native yeasts from the different cultivars of Musa sp. such as Champa kola, Malbhog/Sapri kola, Saiel kola, Geera kola and Jahaji kola which can be utilized for the preparation of beverages yeast. Highest mean counts of yeast were 56.3 ×103 CFU/mL in the Champa kola of Musa sp. The total 44 yeast strains were identified, comprising ascomycetes and basidiomycetous with the most frequent being Candida sp., Meyerozyma quilliermondii, Pichia quillerimondii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae whereas Cryptococcus sp. was the most frequent yeast of basidiomycetous to be associated with the ripen banana pulp. The isolates were found potential to produce alcohol. Of the 28 isolates were fermented for 4 days in YEPD broth containing 400 g/L sucrose and 0.67 g/L yeast nutrient solutions. The alcohol content was measured in percent of the total volume. 12 yeast strains showed ethanol production ability. Two yeast strains Phichia sp and Saccharomyces cerevisae, was found to produce the most alcohol during the 3 day period (3.76% v/v,) whereas Saccharomyces cerevisae produced the least alcohol (1.31% v/v).