Evaluate of pumpkin oil cake as substrate for the cellulase production by Penicillium roqueforti in solid state fermentation

Evaluate of pumpkin oil cake as substrate for the carboxyl methyl cellulase (CMCase) production by Penicillium roqueforti in solid state fermentation was the main aim of this study. Comparisons were made for CMCase production using wheat bran (WB) and different oil cakes as substrates. WB served as the best carbon source for CMCase synthesis by P. roqueforti as it gave the highest enzymes activity (53.06 U gds ­1 ) (units per gram dried solid). Reasonably good quantities of enzyme were produced on mixed substrate (PuOC+WB) and on PuOC (pumpkin oil cake) as sole nutrient source, which were 48.49 U gds ­1 and 37.07 U gds ­1 , respectively. The results could be considered interesting as they indicated the suitability of PuOC as substrate in compare to WB. Knowing that the enzyme synthesis was related to the availability of moisture, variation in initial moisture content of substrate was investigated. Substrate with initial moisture of 44.44 %, showed the highest CMCase yield (36.0 U gds ­1 ) and was used for the further investigation. The influence of incubation time on the enzyme production during SSF was also evaluated. CMCase production increased progressively with incubation time and maximal activity was obtained after fifth days (59.9 U gds ­1 ).