Abstract:

This study assessed cellulase production from five agricultural wastes (wheat bran, corncobs, rice husk, cassava peels and saw dust) using Aspergillus niger obtained from Microbiology Laboratory, University of Ilorin, Ilorin. A basal medium containing CMC, KH2PO4, Na2HPO4, MgSO4.7H2O, KNO3 and (NH4)2SO4 at 25oC, for 72 hours, under solid state fermentation was used for the cellulase production.The capacity of Aspergillus niger to secrete extracellular protein on different lignocelluloses was also assayed for, using Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as standard. The assay of cellulase in term of CMCase was performed by measuring the release of reducing sugar using glucose as standard. The crude cellulase liberated reducing sugar from filter paper (FPase) through hydrolysis. The optimum enzyme activity of 0.63U/mL for Aspergillus niger was obtained with wheat bran. This was followed by corncobs (0.43U/mL), saw dust (0.22 U/mL), cassava peel (0.14 U/mL) and rice husks (0.05U/mL). The optimum protein concentration of 0.509 mg/mL was obtained with saw dust while the least of 0.177 mg/mL was obtained with cassava peel. Hence, the study showed that the use of wheat bran was the best among the agricultural wastes for low-cost commercial production of cellulase using Aspergillus niger. These substrates may be considered for commercial production of cellulase. The use of these wastes will lead to reduction in anthropogenic environmental pollution.