Pectinase Production in a Defined Medium Using Surface Culture Fermentation

Two pectinase producing fungi species were isolated. Using a defined mineral medium and pectin as the carbon source, the capability of the species to produce pecinase was investigated in surface culture fermentation. The results showed that Aspergillus niger performs better than Thericoderma reesei in term of pectinase production, glucose has a repressive effect on pectinase production, and among nitrogen sources of ammonium sulfate, yeast extract , and sodium nitrate, ammonium sulfate is the best. The maximum exo-pectinase obtained in this research was about 1.7U/mL and the maximum endo-pectinase activity was about 0.015U/mL. Pectinase production was very weak when pectin was substituted by sugar beet pulp probably due to inefficient contact between the microorganism and substrate particles in surface culture fermentation. Using sugar beet pulp in solid-state fermentation gave results comparable with those obtained in surface culture fermentation of pectin and in this research was investigated the feasibility of continuous surface culture fermentation for pectinases production. The bioreactor was placed in an incubator at 35oC.