Enhanced Nutritional Efficiency in Poultry Feed: Optimized Production and Immobilization of Thermostable Phytase from Mucor indicus Using Agricultural By-Products.

In this study, a thermostable phytase enzyme was produced from Mucor indicus through the optimization of media components, followed by immobilization, with the aim of enhancing the nutritional value of broiler and layer feed via dephytinization process. Various agricultural by-products, including wheat bran, rice bran, chickpea husk, and black gram husk were evaluated for their efficacy in phytase production. Among these, black gram husk demonstrated the highest enzyme activity, achieving 92.10 U/ml. Optimization of media components and physical parameters, including a temperature of 50 °C, a pH of 5.5, an inoculum age of 72 h, an inoculum size of 1.5%, glucose as the carbon source, and peptone as the nitrogen source, resulted in a significant enhancement in enzyme activity, reaching 184.03 U/ml. The catalytic efficiency of the free enzyme was determined to be 5.68 ± 0.28 mM/s, whereas the immobilized enzyme exhibited a substantially higher catalytic efficiency of 17.26 ± 0.24 mM/s. Application of the immobilized enzyme for the dephytinization of broiler and layer feed led to phosphorus liberation of 35.45 mg/g and 58.46 mg/g, respectively, after 24 h of incubation. These results demonstrate the potential of immobilized thermostable phytase for improving the nutritional quality of animal feed by utilizing sustainable agricultural by-products.