Lipase Activity in Fermented Oil Seeds of Africa Locust Bean, (Parkia Biglobosa), Castor Seeds (Ricinu Communis) and African Oil Bean (Pentaclethra Macrophylla).

The activity of lipase in fermented Africa locust bean, Castor seed, and Africa oil bean was determined. The peak lipase activity for fermented Africa locust bean, Castor seed, and African oil bean were 13.3x10-3μmol/sec, 7.2 x10-3μmol/sec and 10.6 x10-3μmol/sec at day 5, 4 and 4 respectively. The optimum temperature and pH were 300C and 7.0 respectively for all the fermented seeds above. Increasing NaCl concentration decreases the activity of Lipase indicating that NaCl is an inhibitor of lipase. The effect of substrate concentration on lipase activity in the fermenting oil seeds shows the normal Michaelis-Menten curve. The Km for African locust bean is 0.065664mM, Castor seed is 0.067625mM, and African oil bean is 0.075848mM. While the Vmax are: 15.229x10-3 μmol/sec, 14.787x10-3μmol/sec and 13.184x10-3μmol/sec respectively. The findings of this work indicates that fermented African locust bean, Castor seed and Africa oil bean could be a source of lipase for industrial application. Key words: Fermentation, Lipase activity, Pentaclethra macrophylla, Daddaw