Production Of Cellulosic Enzymes By Aspergillus Niger And Hydrolysis Of Cellulosic Materials

Microorganisms such as fungi can fragment carbon compounds by hydrolytic enzymes. The filamentous fungus, Aspergillus niger is now mostly considered because of its ubiquitous nature, non-fastidious nutritional requirements and it is classified generally as safe. This study was aimed at the production of cellulosic enzymes by A. niger and hydrolytic degradation of cellulosic materials by these enzymes. Standard methods were employed in soil samples collection, isolation of A. niger from the soils and their screening for enzyme production. Results showed that the A. niger isolates exhibited considerable activities of degrading and hydrolyzing cellulose in the agar media. The highest FPase, cellulase and xylanase activities were obtained from white saw dust with concentrations of 0.4059 U/ml, 0.7695U/ml and 1.3488 U/ml respectively. Also, results showed high enzyme activity at pH 6 (0.52U/ml) and temperature of 30ºC (0.72U/ml). Acid hydrolysis of the cellulosic substrates resulted to the release of 6.5% total sugar from white sawdust. The findings of this study revealed that the enzymes produced by A. niger hydrolyzed cellulosic materials but acid is more efficient than the enzymes in the hydrolysis and release of total sugar from cellulosic materials. This study recommends that cellulolytic enzymes used in the industries should be produced locally using filamentous fungus such as Aspergillus niger and cellulosic materials as carbon source.