Composition of matter and method for stimulating the growth of beneficial microorganisms

摘要

The invention describes a novel composition of matter obtained from the leaves of green plants, which is useful in promoting the growth of beneficial microorganisms. Specifically, that the invention describes a hydrolysate prepared from plant leaf biomass (leaf biomass hydrolysate or ‘LBH’) which dramatically stimulates the growth of beneficial microorganisms. Use of LBH as a fermentation substrate can also stimulate rapid production of organic acids and other organic compounds. LBH can be used as a substrate to promote the fermentation-based production of biobased industrial chemicals or biofuels, LBH can be utilized as a prebiotic to promote the growth of beneficial probiotic organisms, hi addition, LBH may also be useful in stimulating the fermentation-based production of other products, examples of which include preservatives, antibiotics, antigens, vaccines, amino acids, vitamins, recombinant proteins, bioremediation treatments, and immobilized enzymes.

主权项

1. A growth medium comprising a tobacco leaf biomass hydrolysate (TLBH) wherein TLBH is a product produced from the following steps in the following chronological order:
(a) disrupting one or more tobacco leaves; (b) sterilizing by drying the disrupted leaves to a water activity level of approximately 0.85 or lower (c) incubating the disrupted leaves in a liquid wherein incubating comprises heating the disrupted leaves in water to a temperature of from about 60° C. to about 90° C. for a period of time of ranging from about 15 minutes to about one (1) week; (d) filtering the liquid after incubation to remove solids, and produce a liquid comprising soluble constituents of TLBH; and (e) placing the soluble constituents of TLBH resulting from the filtering step of (d) into a growth medium.