Effect of ammonium concentration on alcoholic fermentation kinetics by wine yeasts for high sugar content

Kinetics of alcoholic fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine strains in a synthetic medium with high sugar content were established for different nitrogen initial content and are presented for four strains. The composition of the medium was close to grape must except that the nitrogen source consisted mainly in ammonium and was varied from 120 to 290 mg N/l assimilable nitrogen. The overall nitrogen consumed was also estimated in order to determine nitrogen requirement variability. The effect of assimilable nitrogen was in general greater on sugar consumption rates than on growth and three kinds of effect on sugar consumption rates were observed: (i) existence of an optimal initial nitrogen level for a maximal sugar consumption rate (inhibition if excess), (ii) no effect of nitrogen beyond the intermediary level (saturation), (iii) sugar consumption rate proportional to the initial nitrogen level (activation). In all cases, the amount of consumed nitrogen increased with its initial concentration and so did the fructophilic capacity of the strains. The optimal requirement varied from 0.62 to 0.91 mg N/g of sugars according to different strains. There was no general correlation between the sugar assimilation rates and the nitrogen requirement.