MICROBIAL HYDROLASES IMMOBILIZED ON POROUS MATRICES

Starch degrading enzymes are used as feed additives to increase the digestibility of corn meal based dietin livestock and poultry. To be efficient, these enzymes have to present a good activity and stability.Immobilization by physical bonding of enzymes on a porous support is a simple and efficient method topreserve enzyme molecules in an active form and retain their activity for a period of time.The aim of this study was to stabilize an enzymatic preparation with amylase activity produced by a nativestrain of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in submerged culture. The immobilization technique used wasphysical bonding on a porous ceramic support. The enzymatic preparation with amylase activity was usedin immobilization in a liophylized form. By using the same method we immobilized also a purifiedAspergillus niger amylase. For both enzymes, the optimal temperature and pH of the native andimmobilized enzymes did not vary significantly. At temperature and pH values lower than the optimum,the relative activities have been higher for the immobilized Bacillus amyloliquefaciens enzyme comparedto the native one. The immobilization has led to an enzymatic compound with stability at pH 3 and 37°Cand in time higher than that of the free one.