Exploration of regional agrowastes for the production of pectinase by Aspergillus niger

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate locally available pectin rich agrowastes, viz. lemon peel, sorghum stem and sunflower head, as substrates for the production of pectinase by Aspergillus niger DMF 27 and A. niger DMF 45 in submerged fermentation (SmF) and solid-state fermentation (SSF) systems, respectively. The maximum amount of endo-(4.8 U/g) and exopectinases (17.2 U/g) was obtained from sunflower head followed by lemon peel (endopectinase 2.0 and exopectinase 10.2 U/g) in solid-state system. The increased level in the production of pectinases was noticed when the agrowastes were supplemented with additional carbon and nitrogen sources, and supplementation of sucrose was more effective than glucose in SSF. But, glucose yielded more pectinases in SmF. Among the nitrogen sources, ammonium sulphate raised the production level of pectinases from all the substrates in both SmF and SSF systems.