Effect of Different Substrates Towards the Acetobacter Xylinum Synthesizing Bacterial Cellulose (Production of Nata De Coco)

Lim, Sean Tiing (2020) Effect of Different Substrates Towards the Acetobacter Xylinum Synthesizing Bacterial Cellulose (Production of Nata De Coco). Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Nata de coco is a fermented product that usually used in desserts. It is produced by incubating the acetic acid bacteria, Acetobacter xylinum into the coconut water with several nutrients and minerals that needed by this particular strain. A total of three substrates which were honey, table sugar and glucose were used to produce nata de coco in a particular period of 14 to 21 days. The major aim of this project is to find out the suitable sugar substrate that can produce the good yield of nata de coco. The substrates underwent several tests which were microbial count, pH, moisture content, thickness, colour and Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) to determine the physico-chemical properties of nata de coco. Based on the collected data, honey provides better yield as the tests carried out for the honey substrate gave relatively good results than the other two treatments. In microbial count test, the microbial count for honey substrate was 9.67x103 ± 8.02x102 cfu/mL before the fermentation and 1.61x1011 ± 1.47x1010cfu/mL for after fermentation. This clearly showed that large amount of Acetobacter xylinum were produced in honey treatment whereas the microbial count for glucose treatment was slightly lower than honey treatment (1.48x104 ± 1.55x103 cfu/mL before fermentation; 1.53x108 ± 2.65x106 cfu/mL for after fermentation). Based on the physicochemical tests that had been carried out for the honey substrate, the moisture content of the nata de coco are at 81.37% ± 1.46 and 90.50% ± 0.23, thickness is at 1.00 ± 0.00 cm. For the TPA tests, its hardness are at 15100.81 ± 15692.56 cm and 19402.28 ± 1481.64 cm; for its springiness are at 1.00 ± 0.00 and 0.99 ± 0.00; for its cohesiveness are at 9.76 ± 1.83 and 9.27 ± 2.36; for its gumminess are at 139666.28 ± 140286.94 and 143356.52 ± 41766.50; for its chewiness are at 138981.64 ± 139599.26 and 142114.86 ± 41103.62. The physicochemical tests of honey substrate had the most desirable characteristics compared to the glucose substrates and therefore, honey substrate is the best substrate to be chose to produce nata de coco. It is recommend that the procedure and environment factors must be consistent and an odour removing process, for example boiling is required to carry out to reduce the pungent smell of the freshly collected nata de coco.