African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (7), pp. 660-662, July 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Short Communication

Ethanol and sugar tolerance of wine yeasts isolated from fermenting cashew apple juice

Osho, A.

Department of Biological Sciences, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria. .  E-mail: osho_adeleke@yahoo.com.

Accepted 11 April, 2005

Seventeen wine yeasts isolated from fermenting cashew apple juice were screened for ethanol and sugar tolerance. Two species of Saccharomyces comprising of three strains of S. cerevisiae and one S. uvarum showed measurable growth in medium containing 9% (v/v) ethanol. They were equally sugar-tolerant having good growth in medium containing 25% (w/v) glucose. Two of the strains (S. cerevisiae) were found to posses higher invertase activities than the remaining two. Further search for industrially useful yeasts in tropical fruits is suggested.

Key words: Ethanol tolerance, Invertase activities, wine yeast, cashew, cashew apple juice.