Samples, reagents and enzymes
Cassava starch of high grade (as per the specifications of the
Bureau of Indian Standards) was procured from a starch
factory in Tamil Nadu, India. Spezyme Xtra (a highly
powerful a-amylase) and Stargen 001 (Granular Starch
Hydrolyzing Enzyme) were supplied by M/s Genencor International
Inc. USA. All other chemicals used for the quantification
of reducing sugars were of analytical grade. Dry baker’s
yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used for the fermentation
studies. Spezyme Xtra contains a thermostable a-amylase
(E.C. 3.2.1.1) with an activity of 14 000 a-amylase units (AAU)/g
(1.0 AAU ¼ amount of enzyme required to hydrolyze 10.0 mg
starch/min under the assay conditions) [21]. Stargen 001 had