ABSTRACT

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. sabauda) juice was extracted and dispensed

into six fermentation vessels and salted with constant weight of 2.0% (w/v) NaCi.

Varying initial lactic acid (v/v) concentrations of 0%, 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 0,7%,

1.0% were inoculated to each vessel respectively and allowed to ferment at

ambient temperature (28 ± 2°C) under anaerobic environment for 10 days. Prior to

inoculation, prelimary analysis on the proximate composition of the fresh sample

was carried out. The fermentation process was monitored and assessed for

physiochemical and microbial changes. The proximate composition based on wet

basis revealed 89.09 ± 0.62 moisture (%), 8.20 ± 0.10 ash (%), 0.93 ± 0.03 crude

fibre (%), 2.73 ± 0.40 (%) crude lipid, 17.41 ± 0.26 crude protein (%), 70.73 ±

0.48 carbohydrate (%) and 377.13 ± 3.90 caloric value (Kcal). The bacterial

counts of the fresh juice was 2.5 x cfu/ml while fungal counts was 1.3 x iO3

cfu/ml. The initial pH value of the juice was 5.97 ± 0.06 at ambient temperature.

The drop in pH values varied significantly (P < 0.05) with the initial acid

treatment. The rate of production of final lactic acid was significantly influenced

by the level of initial acidification (P < 0.05), with the highest values obtained

from 0.3% initial acid treatment. Six different bacterial species were isolated from

the raw sample, namely Serratia spp, Bacillus spp, Lactobacillus spp,

Micrococcus spp, Pseudomonas spp and Leuconostoc spp. while fungal isolates

were Rhizopus spp, Aspergillus spp and Penicillum spp. After day 10 of

fermentation, only two bacterial isolates; Lactobacillus spp. and Bacillus spp.

were observed in all the lactic acid treated vessels while no fungal isolates were

detected. The results showed that initial acid treatment of 0.3% (v/v) gave

appreciable fermentation end-products: acetic acid, soluble protein and residual

sugars at a reduced time.