Bioprocessing of Prawn Shell Powder for Chitinase Production from Kurthia Gibsonii Mb 126 by Solid Substrate Fermentation

Development of a successful bacterial SSF system for chitinase production is laborious as there are many factors critically influencing such a system. These factors are to be accurately optimised. Chitinase was produced from Kurthia gibsonii Mb126 isolated from marine environments of Kochi, Kerala, by solid substrate fermentation utilising prawn shell powder as the substrate. No additional carbon and nitrogen sources were required. Various conditions for the production were optimised. Maximum chitinase activity (426 U/gds) was obtained with moisture content 75%, the pH of the moistening solution 8 and temperature of incubation 40°C and by using 0.6 mm size prawn shell powder. The optimum inoculum size was 3´10⁹ CFU/mL. The presence of certain surfactants increased the yield. As a result of optimising the yield of chitinase from K. gibsonii Mb126 could be increased approximately 5.5 fold from 78.56 to 426 U/gds. This study reports an inexpensive method for chitinase production by utilising prawn shell waste.