Enhanced Production of Alpha Amylase by Exploiting Novel Bacterial Co-Culture Technique Employing Solid State Fermentation

The present study deals with the enhanced production of alpha amylase by using synergistic phenomena of bacterial co-culture. The bacterial strains were isolated from different soil samples and compatibility of all the isolated strains was tested. The compatible strains were screened for alpha amylase production using solid state fermentation. The bacterial co-culture exhibiting highest amylolytic potential was further characterized by 16s rRNA technique. The result revealed the selected co-culture consists of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis. Eight different media were screened for the production of alpha amylase by co-culture. Among all the tested media, M5 medium gave highest production of alpha amylase. Different concentrations of wheat bran were also tested. The 15 g of wheat bran was found to be best for optimal enzyme production. Different Physical parameters such as incubation time, temperature, pH and inoculum size were investigated. The optimal alpha amylase production by co-culture was obtained at 48 h, 37 °C, pH 7 and inoculum size of 4 ml. The influence of other variables such as carbon and nitrogen sources was determined. 4 % starch and 1 % tryptone were optimized as a best carbon and nitrogen sources for the enhanced production of alpha amylase. The novelty of this study was the use of synergistic phenomena of bacterial strain by the use of co-culture technique for the biosynthesis of alpha amylase which was not practiced before.