Steam explosion pretreatment enhancing enzymatic digestibility of overground tubers of tiger nut ( L.).

Introduction: Tiger nut (TN) is recognized as a high potential plant which can grow in well-drained sandy or loamy soils and provide food nutrients. However, the overground tubers of TN remain unutilized currently, which limits the value-added utilization and large-area cultivation of this plant.

Methods: In the present study, the overground tubers of TN were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis to produce fermentable sugars for biofuels production.