Agricultural residues for production of cellulase from Sporotrichum thermophile LAR5 and its application for saccharification of rice straw

Cellulases have got numerous industrial applications including saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass for environmentally-friendly production of bioethanol-biofuel and other platform chemicals. in the current study,fungal isolate sporotrichum thermophile lar5 successfully utilized low-cost agricultural residues as the substrates and produced considerable titre of cellulase. wheat bran supported maximum cellulase production (2000 iu/l) and was followed by maize bran (1800 iu/l) and rice husk (1600 iu/l). cellulase production was enhanced substantially by peptone (7900 iu/l),mustard cake (7000 iu/l) and soybean meal (6000 iu/l) as compared to control (2000 iu/l); cotton cake and casein too supported higher enzyme production (3900 iu/l and 3800 iu/l,respectively) than control. though optimum temperature for cellulase activity was 60-70°c but significant activity was observed even at higher temperatures (80-90°c). cellulase showed through thermostability at 50-60°c for 30 min but stability deceased as the time and temperature increased further. cellulase showed optimum ph of 5 but sufficient activity was observed over broad range of acidic and alkaline ph (3-10). cellulase was thoroughly stable at ph 3-6,however,towards higher alkaline ph stability gradually decreased. furthermore,cellulase showed good saccharification ability on acid-pretreated rice straw,and could have potential for lignocellulosic biomass transformation.