Original Articles
Noorhamizah Suhaimi, Solleh Ra
Abstract
Pectinases are heterogeneous group of enzymes which are used to hydrolyze the pectic substances and thus becomes of high interest in many industries. The objective of this study is to develop cost effective industrial medium for pectinase production. The effects of medium composition on the production of pectinase using a newly isolated Aspergillus niger strain were studied using one factor at a time (OFAT) approach. At first, different media which were reported before for their high potency to support pectinase production were screened. The medium which support higher pectinase production was composed of (g L-1): Sucrose, 30; K2HPO4, 1 and Capek concentrate (10 mL) containing per 100 mL: NaNO3,3; KCl ,0.5; MgSO4·7H2O,0.5; FeSO4·7H2O, 0.01. This medium yielded cell biomass and total pectinase activity of 2.15 g L-1 and 26.85 U mL-1, respectively. Attempts were done to change the carbon source to cost effective source (mandarin pectin) which considered also as agriculture waster. After this step, other medium ingredients were also changed in terms of types and concentrations to develop new medium formula for high pectinase production. The optimal medium composition for pectinase production obtained in this work was composed of (g L-1): Mandar in orange pectin, 30; ammonium sulphate, 3.33; and K2HPO4, 1.0. This medium supported maximal enzyme production up to 74.35 U mL-1after 96 hours cultivation.