African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (5), pp. 467-471, 1 March 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Factors affecting cellulase sorption in soil

Ali Akbar Safari Sinegani* and Alireza Hosseinpour

Bu-Ali Sina University, Faculty of agriculture, Hamadan, Iran.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: aa-safari@basu.ac.ir

Accepted 18 October, 2005

The sorption of cellulase proteins of Trichoderma viride on calcareous soils was investigated, and the soil factors affecting cellulase sorption were also studied. The study on some arid, semiarid and humid soils of Isfahan, Hamadan and Gilan provinces of Iran revealed that the sorption of cellulase on the calcareous soils obey both the Freundlich and the Langmuir isotherms. The maximum binding levels of cellulase on the Isfahan, Hamadan and Gilan soils estimated by the Langmuir model were 58.72, 41.64 and 74.07 g kg^-1, respectively. The association binding constants were 3.32, 2.17 and 1.86 ml mg^-1 for cellulase sorption on the Isfahan, Hamadan and Gilan soils, respectively. The observed differences may be due to the deferent clay and carbonate contents of soils, because the correlation tests revealed that the sorption capacity of soils was significantly related to the soil clay and carbonates contents. Cellulase sorbed on the soils was not correlated with soil organic mater contents. Sorbed cellulase washed out more easily from the Hamadan soils than from the other soils, probably due to their lower clay contents.

Key words: Sorption, calcareous soils, cellulase.