Abstract: The adaptation of Candida sp.can effectively enhance its resistance to the inhibitors in the hydrolysate of corn cobs,and therefore improves the xylose utilization efficiency and xylitol yield.At 30℃,hydrolysate produced by dilute acid pretreatment can be directly fermented after simply treated by Ca(OH)₂ using the adapted yeast strain.The optimum fermentation conditions were as follows:inoculum size 10%(volume ratio),inoculum age 17 h,nitrogen source 1.5 g/L Bacto-yeast extract and 2.5 g/L Bacto-tryptone,volume charge 120 mL in 250 mL flasks,intitial pH value 5.5.Xylose utilization efficiency over 79.8% and xylitol yield higher than 62.4% were obtained respectively.This process can effectively reduce the pretreatment costs,showing broad prospects of applications.

Key words: xylose, xylitol, corn cob, hydrolysate, fermentation