Fungal Lipase Production by Solid State Fermentation-An Overview

(SSF) is an economical alternative technique to submerged fermentation (SmF) for large scale production of industrial enzymes, where raw materials and processing is cheap with reduced chemical cost and less processing risk. It is defined as ‘the growth of microorganisms (mainly fungi) on moist solid materials in the absence of free flowing water’ [1]. This technique uses agricultural substrates with various carbohydrates, nitrogen sources, salts as well as nutrients like starch, cellulose, pectin, lignin, fibers and minerals. SSF technique has the potential to produce desired microbial products more efficiently than submerged fermentation (SmF) and has practical and economical advantages over SmF [2]. It has been reported that SSF with fungal strains results in greater productivity than submerged fermentation [3,4]. Substrates that have been traditionally fermented by solid state fermentation for enzyme production include agricultural wastes such as rice husk, wheat bran, beans, corn steep dry, sugar cane bagasse, coffee pulp, lemon peel and apple pomace [5-11]. Currently, major countries in the world are implementing this technique for large scale production of enzymes due to its higher titer values [12]. The substrates used for SSF can be classified as (a) agricultural raw materials and waste products (b) industrial wastes and (c) synthetic materials [13].