Isolation and Screening of Cellulase-Producing Fungi for the Degradation of Agricultural Residues
Abstract
The objective of the present study was to investigate the ability of cellulase-producing fungi to degrade agricultural residues. A total of thirty-six fungal isolates were isolated from soil, decaying rice straw and decaying sugarcane leaf litter. Cellulase production of the fungal isolates were determined using Gram’s iodine on CMC agar. The ratio of clear zone diameter to colony diameter was calculated and expressed as the enzymatic index. Among them, the isolate MLP02, MLP05 and NLP06 showed the highest cellulase activity with cellulolytic index of 1.57±0.06, 1.53±0.06 and 1.47±0.06, respectively. Based on morphological characteristics data, the three fungal isolates were identified as belonging to the genera of Aspergillus. In addition, cellulolytic fungi were investigated for the ability to produce lignocellulose-degrading enzymes during cultivation using different agricultural residues. The result found that the enzymatic index of Aspergillus sp. MLP02 from cultivation on different agar media tested were not significantly different (p>0.05). In contrast, the enzymatic index of Aspergillus sp. MLP05 on rice bran agar, rice husk agar and rice straw agar were significantly higher than that on sugarcane bagasse agar and CMC agar (p<0.05). Whilst the enzymatic index of Aspergillus sp. NLP06 on rice bran agar, sugarcane bagasse agar and CMC agar were significantly higher than that on rice husk agar and rice straw agar (p<0.05).References
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