STUDIES ON BIO-UTILIZATION OF SOME AGRICULTURE WASTES TO PRODUCE α-AMYLASE ENZYME IMPORTANT IN FOOD PROCESSING

Abstract

It was demonstrated that Aspergillus niger ATCC 102 and Aspergillus oryzae NRRL 6270 has potential for production of fungal α-amylase under solid state fermentation. Four agro-byproducts as substrate were used rice straw, inner layers of sugarcane bagasse, corn gluten meal without addition and corn gluten meal after addition of germ cake and corn steep liquor for α-amylase production. The substrates were inoculated with Aspergillus niger ATCC 102 and Aspergillus oryzae NRRL 6270 and incubation for 120 hours at 30°C±2°C. The crude enzyme was extracted by mixing of fermented matter with 50 ml of each four different substrates by extraction medium 0.2 M phosphate buffer (pH 7±0.2). The suspension was filtered and then centrifuged at 8000 rpm at 4°C for 15 min. the supernatant was collected and used for enzyme assay. The optimization of α-amylase production using both the strains namely Aspergillus niger ATCC 102 and Aspergillus oryzae NRRL 6270 were investigated with various parameters like moisture content, fermentation period and temperature of incubation. The crude enzyme was subjected to further purification. α-amylase was purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation at different saturation and subjected to dialysis against the same buffer (7±0.2).