PRETREATMENT OF SUGARCANE BAGASSE FOR THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF CELLULASES BY TRICHODERMA VIRIDE

Abstract

Present study describes the pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse with different physical and chemical agents for the production of cellulolyic enzymes by Trichoderma viride using submerged fermentation. Bagasse was pretreated with steam (121ºC and 200ºC) and different chemicals like NaOH, H2SO4, H2O2 and NaHClO3 to get the maximum yield of cellulases. Among all treatments, steam pretreatment at 200ºC gave the maximum cellulases yield (CMCase 1.57 U/ml/min, FPase 0.921 U/ml/min) as compared to control (CMCase 0.084 U/ml/min, FPase 0.0138 U/ml/min), untreated bagasse. There was a considerable enhancement in the enzyme production in terms of several folds higher than control. The amount of sugarcane bagasse in the fermentation medium was also optimized and 1% level of bagasse was found to be optimum.