African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 2 (6), pp. 150–152, June 2003   

ISSN 1684-5315  © 2003 Academic Journals

Cellulase Production by Aspergillus flavus Linn Isolate NSPR 101 fermented in sawdust, bagasse and corncob

OJUMU, Tunde Victor^1*, SOLOMON, Bamidele Ogbe^2,e, BETIKU, Eriola^2,¡, LAYOKUN, Stephen Kolawole ², and AMIGUN, Bamikole³

¹Engineering Materials Development Institute, P.M.B 611, Akure Nigeria.

²Department of Chemical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

³Department of Food Science and Technology, Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

*Correspondence Author; E-mail: tojumu@yahoo.com

¡Present Address: German Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF), Biochemical Engineering Division, Mascheroder Weg 1, D-38124 Braunschweig, E-mail: erb@gbf.de, ebetiku@oauife.edu.ng

^eE-mail: bsolomon@oauife.edu.ng

Accepted 23 May 2003

Bagasse, corncob and sawdust were used as lignocellulosic substrates for the production of cellulase enzyme using Aspergillus flavus after ballmilling and pretreatment with caustic soda.  From the fermentation studies, sawdust gave the best result with an enzyme activity value of 0.0743IU/ml while bagasse and corncob gave 0.0573IU/ml and 0.0502IU/ml respectively. The three lignocellulosics gave their maximum enzyme activities at about the twelfth hour of cultivation, suggesting that the 12th hour is the optimum time when the enzyme may be harvested.

Key words:  Aspergillus flavus, cellulase activity, lignocellulosics.