ALTERATION OF YEAST ACTIVITY BY GAMMA-RADIATION

Yeast is an important component in microbe based industrial technologi es. Due to the techno-economic reasons, the fermentation technique has acquired renewed interest. The effect of gamma-radiation on the ferme ntation reaction has been investigated. The studies show that exposure of the fermentation mixture to gamma-radiation at 5 kGy enhance alcoh ol production, whereas irradiation at higher doses, viz., 10 kGy and 2 5 kGy caused a considerable reduction in the alcohol yield. Therefore, low dose irradiation of fermentation mixtures can be applied for incr easing the alcohol production by about 25%.