- agriculture
- environment
yeast cell wall < for environment >
yeast cell wall < for environment >
Beer yeast is composed of a central core containing nutrients and umami flavor components that is surrounded like a shell by the brewing yeast cell walls. While brewing yeast cell walls contain beneficial components that aid plant growth, their insolubility makes them unavailable for immediate use. The Asahi Group has tackled this issue by using proprietary technology* to process the beneficial components of brewing yeast cell walls to enable efficient absorption by plants and use in agricultural materials (fertilizers).
*Patent Nos. 4931388, 5555818 and 5715044 (as of December 2016)
Research background
The essential ingredients for brewing beer are water, malt, hops and beer yeast. Spent beer yeast removed after being used for brewing contains many of the nutrients from the wort. The Asahi Group has focused on the nutritional value of the beer yeast generated as a byproduct of brewing. It has been used in seasonings and Ebios Tablets (a gastrointestinal aid and nutritional supplement), and mixed with feed to improve livestock health. The Group is now looking to extract even more value from brewing yeast cell walls by starting to study the use, which are high in components beneficial to plants (beta-glucans).
Major research findings
- Promotion of plant root growth; increase in plant immunity-inducing substances
Creating a society of health and abundance
Using agricultural materials (fertilizers) made with brewing yeast cell walls makes plants hardier and more resistant to adverse climate and soil conditions, enabling stable crop production. These benefits should also lower greenhouse gas emissions per crop yield by enabling reductions in pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Agricultural materials (fertilizers) made with brewer’s yeast cell walls are gaining ground in Japan and areas of rapid population growth such as Southeast Asia. They should help provide solutions to global food crises and enable consumer-safe, environmentally friendly agriculture that protects the air, soil and water.
Research information on yeast cell wall < for environment >
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Paper
In vivo bioluminescence monitoring of defense gene expression in response to treatment with yeast cell wall extract
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Paper
Induction of plant disease resistance upon treatment with yeast cell wall extract
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Paper
Effect of dietary direct-fed microbial and yeast cell walls on cecal digesta microbiota of layer chicks inoculated with nalidixic acid resistant Salmonella Enteritidis