ORIGINAL ARTICLE Enhanced production of xylanase by solid state fermentation using Trichoderma koeningi isolate: effect of pretreated agro-residues

Abstract The main objective of this study was to isolate the fungal strain for enhanced production of xylanase using different agro-residues and fruit peels by solid state fer-mentation and its potentiality was tested on the pretreated corn cob. Fermentation was carried out with Trichoderma koeningi isolate using untreated and pretreated corn cob supplemented with pineapple peel powder showed higher production of xylanase 2,869.8 ± 0.4 (IU/g) and extracel-lular protein 7.6 ± 0.2 (mg/g) of corn cob, in the latter than the former yielding 1,347.2 ± 0.7 (IU/g) and 4.9 ± 0.1 (mg/g) of corn cob, respectively, at pH 6.5 and incubation period for 96 h. In the FT-IR spectrum, the bands at 1,155, 1,252 and 1,738 cm-1 had disappeared. This indicates the depolymerization of hemicellulose and the band at 1,053 cm-1 shows the presence of b (1-4)-xylan in the pretreated corn cobs. The pretreated biomass hydrolysed with a xylanase concentration of 14 U and 6 h incubation showed mainly xylose and its oligosaccharides, which were quantified using HPLC. From the results we can conclude that pretreated energy-value and cheaply available agro-residues can be effectively used as substrates for the enhanced production of xylanase