Production of Tannase by Various Fungal Cultures in Solid State Fermentation of Ground Nut Shell

The production of enzymes by bioprocesses is a good alternative to add value to agro industry residues. Groundnut shell is an abundant by-product of ground nut and was tested as a carbon source for production of tannin acyl hydrolase (tannase) by solid state fermentation. Tannase is an industrially important enzyme that is mainly used in the food and pharmaceutical industry. The present work has been taken up with a view of exploring the possibilities of using agriculture by-products as a source for the production of tannase from various fungi. Aspergillus oryzae, A. niger, A. flavus, Penicillium sp., were selected and optimized for tannase enzyme production in solid state fermentation using as a cheaper raw material groundnut shell. Among the fungi used Aspergillus niger produced the highest tannase of (101±2 U/g/min) and Penicillium produced lowest tannase of 73±2 (U/g/min) under SSF conditions carried out 30°C, pH 5.5 incubated for 168 h. Optimized the incubation period to be 96 h for tannase production. Maximum tannase activity was obtained when purified 60–80% ammonium sulphate saturation and DEAE A-50 Column Chromatography 50–60 fractions.