Isolation of Potential Cellulolytic Fungul Isolate from Soil Samples |

ABSTRACT:

The current ethanol production processes using crops suchas sugar cane and corn are well established; however, utilization of a cheapersubstrate such as lignocellulosic biomass (LB) could make bioethanol (= ethanolderived from biomass) more competitive as well as without the ethical concernsassociated with the use of potential food resources. Hence, the lignocellulosicbiomasses are considered a future alternative for the agricultural productsthat are currently used as a feedstock for ethanol production. Furthermore, theuse of LB is more attractive not only in terms of energy balance and emissionof greenhouse gases but also because of its degradation by many naturallyoccurring cellulolytic fungi which can be potentially screened for bioethanolproduction from the LB. In purview of the above, various mesophilic fungi wereisolated from different soil samples collected from different regions of Rohtakin Haryana (INDIA). A total of 20 soil samples were collected and processed forisolating the different cellulolytic fungi. Out of 20 soil samples, 82 fungalisolates were isolated by serial dilution (10-3-10-7)method and their pure cultures were maintained on potato dextrose agar (PDA)media. Then, all fungal isolates were screened primarily for cellulaseproduction by plate assay method. Out of 82 fungal isolates, only 8 havingmaximum zone of hydrolysis were selected for carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase)activity under submerged cultivation by making use of 1% carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) acting as a carbon source. The CMCase activity was found to bemaximum in Trichoderma sp. R-4 and Aspergillus sp. R-30 among all isolates ofthe genera Trichoderma and Aspergillus respectively.