xii. a. t Brill, Parker, and Yates: Copra and Coconut Oil 



67 



circular in outline and the substratum is yellow. This color is 

 also often seen when the mold grows upon coconut or copra, 

 and it appears to be characteristic of the species. 



Morphology. — Hyphse hyaline, 3 to 8 ^ in diameter. Stalk of 

 conidiophore erect, unbranched, 2 to 3 millimeters in height. 

 Head 140 to 160 ^ in diameter. Swollen tip of conidiophore 70 

 to 80 fi in diameter. Spores in chains radiating in all directions 

 from the tip of the conidiophore. Spores first brownish, later 

 black, globular, smooth, 4 to 5 n in diameter. 



Oil loss caused by Aspergillus niger (black mold). — Table VIII 

 shows the loss in oil due to the action of this mold upon grated 

 copra in a saturated atmosphere during a period of about ten 

 days. The experiment was performed and the results calculated 

 after the method already described under Rhizopus. 

 Table VIII. — Oil loss due to the action of Aspergillus niger (black mold). 



Sample No. 



Weight 

 of copra. 



Weight of oil in 

 copra. 







Acidity 

 as oleic. 



Before 

 mold 

 action. 



After 

 mold 

 action. 



Loss of oil. » 





a. 



5.1663 

 5.5930 



0. 

 1. 8025 

 1. 5962 

 1.7282 



0. 

 0.8778 

 1.2282 

 1. 6019 



a- 

 0.9247 

 0.3680 

 0.2263 



Per cent. 

 51.3 

 23.0 

 13.0 



Per cent. 

 9.5 

 8.0 

 ,9 



2 



S. 





• The wide variation in per cent of oil loss is due to the extent of the mold growth ; for 

 example, in the case of sample 1 the meat was covered with a most luxuriant growth, while 

 in sample 3 the mold developed a much smaller growth. 



The oil loss varies somewhat in the three samples considered, 

 but all show that there is a marked loss of oil under conditions 

 favorable for mold growth. The amount of acid in the oil pro- 

 duced is too high for the oil to be considered good, but it is 

 rather low in comparison with that produced by the brown and 

 the white molds. 



ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS LINK (BROWN MOLD) 



This species of Aspergillus is the mold that plays the most 

 important part in the destruction of the oil in copra. It is 

 the brown mold that is usually seen on badly molded copra. In 

 many cases it is mixed with the black Aspergillus discussed above 

 and often with the green Penicillium, which is considered later. 

 It occurs upon copra with a moisture content of from 7 to 8 

 per cent — a water content lower than the average for Philippine 

 copra — and because of its ability to grow on copra with so low a 

 moisture content, it destroys a very high percentage of the copra 



