Cellulase Production by Fungi from Agro Wastes under Solid State Fermentation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Microbial cellulases find applications in many industries and constitute a significant share of the world’s industrial enzyme market. In order to improve the cost function of the cellulase producing processes with enhanced yield and novel activities, superior bioprocesses are formulated these days. The current study was designed to isolate and identify superior cellulose-degrading fungi from cellulosic waste and selection of different cellulosic waste like paper waste, cotton ginning, wheat Bran and sugarcane bagasse for cellulase production under solid state fermentation. Various physical parameters such as temperature, pH and incubation time were optimized for induced cellulase production from Trichoderma sp. in SSF. Among 14 fungal isolates, four isolates were selected by primary screening of CMCase method. Solid state fermentation was carried out with four Agro wastes such as waste paper, cotton ginning waste wheat bran and sugarcane bagasse. Among 4 fungal strains, A11 isolated which was identified as Trichoderma sp. were selected by secondary screening showing higher cellulase activity on solid state fermentation and wheat bran was found to be the best substrate for cellulase production. In the present study the maximum enzyme production by fungal isolate A11 using Wheat bran as substrate showed 8.49 U/g and 2.23 U/g activities of CMCase and FPase respectively recorded at 35ºC on 120 hrs of incubation period at 5 pH. Isolation of cellulase producing fungal strain will help in bio-conversion of cellulosic materials to glucose and other fermentable sugars which can be further used for the production of bio-ethanol.