Production and Use of Yeast Pectolytic Enzymes to AId Pineapple Juice Extraction

A crude preparation of pectolytic enzyme was obtained by culturing Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ATCC512712) in pineapple juice. Maximum cell growth was obtained on the 6th day after inoculation. Correspondingly, optimum protein concentration and enzyme activity were also observed on the 6th day old culture. Although not purified, the addition of this crude enzyme extract to crushed pineapple mash at 0.02% resulted in a significant increase in juice yield (P≥0.05). The overall processing time was also significantly reduced (P≤0.05) with the enzyme treatment compared to controls. A combination of 0.02% enzyme treatment of mash for 30 min, was found to be the most effective dosage in reducing the processing time significantly.