Xylanase Production by Mixed Culture Using Crude Hemicellulose from Rice Straw Black Liquor and Peat Moss as an Inert Support

Black liquor (BL) is a by-product of rice straw pulping process. It is a low costs raw material for production value-adding proteins and enzymes, which has been paid more and more attention to reduce its environmental pollution. Mixed cultures of micelial fungi, Trichoderma reesei Northern Regional Research Laboratory (NRRL)11236, Trichoderma reesei NRRL 6165 and Aspergillus niger strains NRC 5A, NRC 7A, and NRC 9A were evaluated for their ability to produce xylanase using crude hemicellulose (CHC) prepared from BL and peat moss as an inert support under solid state fermentation (SSF). The most potent strains, A. niger NRC 9A (818.26 U/g CHC) and T. reesei NRRL 6165 ( U/g CHC), were used in a mixed culture to enhance xylanase production by co-culturing under SSF. In the mixed culture, xylanase production ( U/g CHC) was nearly1.3 and 10.6-fold increases over the activities attained in their monocultures, A. niger NRC 9A and T. reesei NRRL 6165, respectively. Optimization of the culture parameters of the mixed culture SSF process, concentration of ammonium sulfate and corn steep liquor, CHC/peat moss ratio, inoculum size and ratios of the two strains, initial pH value, initial moisture content and incubation time, exhibited a significant increase ( U/g CHC) in xylanase production than before optimization.