Production and in vitro evaluation of xylooligosaccharides generated from corn cobs.

Corn cobs are major byproduct of maize processing industries. For value addition of maize byproducts, the present paper aims at extracting xylan from corn cobs and subsequent production of xylooligosaccharides (XOS). Compositional determination of corn cobs revealed 38.78% hemicellulose, 27.71% cellulose and 9.4% lignin. Recovery of xylan increased with increasing concentration of alkali during extraction. The extracted xylan was subjected to acidic hydrolysis to yield XOS. HPLC analysis of hydrolysate revealed increased production of XOS with time, but prolonged incubation resulted in higher amount of xylose. Four probiotic strains were used for undertaking in uitro evaluation of the prebiotic efficacy of XOS. XOS ensured higher growth rate for Enterococcus faecium as compared to other pro-bionts, while fructooligosaccharides (FOS) supported higher proliferation of Lactobacillus uiridiscens. This method of xylan extraction and production of XOS offers scope for value addition to the corn byproducts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]