Abstract
The Igusa has strong scum and is not well suited for consumption, but by boiling it in water for 3 minutes the palatability could be enhanced. Dietary fiber contents of Igusa are very high level (63g/100 g-dry weight) in 14 kinds of agricultural products. The antibiotic showed a broad spectrum of activity (MIC; 0.78-100μg/ml) . The bacterial population in a cake (Igusa-free), which have been preserved for 3 days at 30°C, is about 2 orders more than that supplemented with Igusa at a concentration of 40g/100g-cake. The bacterial population in tofu preservative (Igusa-free), which has been kept for 4 days at 15°C, is about 2 orders more than that supplemented with Igusa at a concentration of 0.lg/ml. Consequently, it is thought that Igusa can be used as a keeping quality agent for the purpose of inhibiting bacterial proliferation. Igusa had a superoxide radical scavenging activity of 4200 units/g. In the future, we consider that use of Igusa may be spread from health food industry to medical industry, and should advance in demand for the depressed Japanese Igusa industry by creating a new industry in addition to Tatami mat.
