Sumit Prasad Sah¹, Arnab Sen² and Shankar Prasad Sha¹

¹Food Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Kurseong College, Dow Hill Road, Kurseong, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India
²Molecular Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of North Bengal, Siliguri, India

*Corresponding Author: Shankar Prasad Sha, Food Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Kurseong College, Dow Hill Road, Kurseong, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.

Received: January 25, 2024; Published: February 04, 2024

Abstract

North Bengal region of India is highly rich in fermented foods and alcoholic beverages, the ethnic communities of the region prepare, consume, and sell diverse types of fermented foods for their sustainable livelihood. Marcha, dabai, chot, and ranu goti, are traditionally prepared dried amylolytic starters used to produce various local alcoholic beverages in this region. In the present study the phenotypic characterization gives the metabolic fingerprints of yeasts present in all alcoholic starters of North Bengal samples which showed major dominance of (yeasts) Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Wickerhamomyces anomalus and Candida glabrata, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Issatchenkia, Saccharomycopsis fibuligera, Pichia guilliermondii, Candida glabrata, Pichia kudriavzevii, Pichia anomala, Pichia terricola, Hyphopichia burtonii. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been performed to reveal the surface structures of yeast isolates. The alcohol content of the fermented product ranges between 6-6.5 %, and the alcohol tolerance is up to 17 % (v/v), pH ranges between 3.9 to 4.0 and titratable acidity (g/100 ml) ranges between 0.17 to 0.48. No pathogenic contaminants are observed in all eight alcoholic starers of North Bengal. The present study reveals the presence of yeasts with amylolytic, ethanol tolerance, and ethanol-producing ability from amylolytic starters of North Bengal which could be a good source for future bioprospection. The yeasts community constitutes a large and heterogeneous group of microorganisms that is currently a major attraction for food scientists and the biotechnological industries worldwide.

Keywords: Alcoholic Starters; North Bengal; Sustainable Production; Yeast Diversity; SEM; Fermentation; Livelihood

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Citation

Citation: Shankar Prasad Sha., et al. “Yeast Diversity of Ethnic Rice-Based Alcoholic Starters of the North Bengal Region".Acta Scientific Microbiology 7.3 (2024): 04-15.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2024 Shankar Prasad Sha., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.