NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION OF TRIFOLIATE YAM (WILD AND IMPROVED TDB 3077) FERMENTED WITH MUTANT STRAIN OF MUCOR MUCEDO

Trifoliate yam (Dioscorea dumetorum) holds nutritional promise but is limited by anti-nutrients; fungal fermentation upgrades bioavailability and quality cost-effectively. This study enhanced nutritional composition of wild and improved (TDb 3077) trifoliate yam fermented with mutant Mucor mucedo. Objectives encompassed collecting varieties; converting tubers to flour; isolating M. mucedo; fermenting with wild/mutant strains; nutritional analysis of products. The study utilized controlled solid-state fermentation experimental design. Methodology involved sourcing tubers from Abeokuta markets; washing, peeling, slicing, oven-drying (60°C), milling to flour; activating M. mucedo on PDA, UV mutagenesis (254 nm, 5-20 min) for mutant; inoculating 100 g moistened (50-60%) sterilized flour with 5 mL spore suspension (10⁶/mL); incubating 30°C/96 h, sampling periodically; spore counts via serial dilution/plating on PDA/chloramphenicol; proximate (AOAC), minerals (AAS tri-acid digest), anti-nutrients/phytochemicals (spectrophotometric/titrimetric) in triplicate; two-way ANOVA/DMRT (p < 0.05). Population comprised wild and improved (TDb 3077) trifoliate yam fermented with wild/mutant M. mucedo. Findings revealed mutant superiority (plate 125 × 10⁵ vs. 88 × 10⁵ wild yam; spore 9.00 × 10⁵ vs. 7.42 × 10⁵ improved); proximate gains (protein 16.5% vs. 13.2% control; ash 4.1% vs. 3.4%; carbs down 39.0% vs. 46.9%); minerals enriched (Ca 58 vs. 49 mg/100 g; Fe 3.2 vs. 2.2); anti-nutrients reduced (phytate 41.8 vs. 420.5 mg/100 g; oxalate 50.7 vs. 285; tannins 32.7 vs. 152.8; cyanogens 0.4 vs. 12.4); flavonoids up 45 vs. 35 mg/100 g. Mutant M. mucedo fermentation optimally detoxified and enriched trifoliate yam nutritionally. Scaling mutant strain for industrial trifoliate yam processing to boost food security is highly recommended.