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Neutral Protease Production by Rhizopus Oligosporus NCIM 1215 under Solid State Fermentation Using Mixed Substrates of Agro Industrial Residues

P. Priyanka and K. Jaya Raju

Neutral protease production under solid state fermentation was carried out by using Rhizopus oligosporus NCIM 1215 and was screened with six different agro industrial residues for maximum production of protease. Among all the agro industrial residues evaluated, mixed substrates like coconut oil cake and wheat bran in the ratio of 1 : 4 supported the maximum protease production by Rhizopus oligosporus NCIM 1215. The physiological fermentation factors such as fermentation time, temperature, initial moisture content, initial pH, inoculum age and inoculum volume played a vital role in protease production and improvement in the yield was observed with the supplementation of carbon and nitrogen sources to the solid medium. Fermentation carried out with 4 days old culture and 55% initial moisture content at a temperature of 32oC, pH 7.0 for 5 days were found to be optimum for enzyme production by the fermenting organism. The best carbon source for the maximum production of neutral protease by this organism was lactose 1% (w/w) and the best organic and inorganic nitrogen sources were yeast extract (1% w/w) and ammonium chloride (1% w/w). It was observed that the fungus Rhizopus oligosporus NCIM 1215 is the potential organism for the production of neutral protease, which could find applications in the field of food and pharmaceutical industries.