ABSTRACT

The use of starter cultures have generally been recognized as one major way of ensuring product consistency and to a reasonable extent eliminate the problem of food-borne pathogens. The aim of this study was to assess the lipase production of microorganisms isolated from (Pentaclethra macrophylla) fermented ugba. One (1) gram of the sample was thoroughly mashed with laboratory pestle and mortar and mixed with 9 ml of normal saline water as diluents in a McCartney bottle and the content was thoroughly shaken. 1 ml of solution from preceding concentration to 9 ml of diluents, was added using sterile syringe. After series of biochemical characterization the following genera of microorganisms were observed E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus sp, Bacillus sp and Klebsiella sp. The occurrence of microorganism’s species in Ugba samples. The result shows that Bacillus subtilis 100%, Proteus 100% had the highest occurrence followed by E.coli 66.7%, S.aureus 66.7% while Klebsiella sp 33.3% had the lowest occurrence. The result of Lipase activity of the Bacillus isolates. Isolated from the rancid palmoil samples. The results show that all the isolates produced extra cellular Lipase enzyme but to varying extracts. The ability of these isolates from Ugba imply great potentials on waste oils in view of the potential application of these enzymes. Lipase are used in industry to hydrolyze fats and to produce many desirable esters. Certain environmental factors such as pH, temperature, and incubation time and aeration rate were observed to play a major role during enzyme production and metabolic activities.