Vol. 2, Issue 1, Part A (2020)

The cellulosic waste generated from farming, industry, urban utilities and many more are piling up every day. These are naturally degraded in nature, but the challenge is its management and an enormous quantity of waste that has to be recycled. Considering this issue, the search for the potential cellulolytic fungal strains from sugarcane pressmud was carried out. Samples were collected from different stages of sugarcane pressmud composting sites operated by sugar factories in South Gujarat region. A total of 10 fungi were found with the zone of hydrolysis. Further the 5 isolates that showed a higher cellulolytic index were subjected to secondary screening where enzyme activity was determined by 3, 5,-dinitosalicylic acid (DNSA) method. The isolate KD5 showed the highest CMCase activity with 0.355 IU/ml, followed by the isolate KD1 with 0.307 IU/ml. These isolates were examined by colonial characteristics, microscopic examination and identified based on the 18S r-RNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The isolate KD1 was identified as Aspergillus fumigatus and and KD5 as Aspergillus niger. Further the isolates were characterized under submerged fermentation conditions for their enzyme activity and enzyme production under various physicochemical parameters like pH, temperature and substrate concentration. Growth and enzyme production was analysed after incubation of 48 hours. The growth, CMCase activity as well as the enzyme production was highest at pH 5, 30 ºC and 2.5% CMC concentration for KD1, but the isolate KD5 was best grown at a pH 6, 30 ºC, 2.5% CMC concentration. There was correlation between the growth, enzyme production and enzyme activity under similar temperature and pH condition. Acidic environment favours growth, enzyme production and enzyme activity in case of both the isolates.