Potential of solid-state fermentation for laccase production

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) processes involve the growth of microorganisms (typically fungi) on a solid material in the absence or near absence of free-flowing water. The wide range of solid materials used in SSF can be classified into two great categories: inert (synthetic materials) and non-inert (organic materials). The former only acts as an attachment place for the fungus, whereas the latter also functions as a source of nutrients, due to which it is called support-substrate. Utilisation of agro-industrial residues as support-substrates in SSF processes provides an alternative avenue and value-addition to these otherwise underor non-utilised residues. SSF processes have shown to be particularly suitable for the production of enzymes by filamentous fungi, since they reproduce the natural living conditions of such fungi. In the present chapter the production of laccase enzyme by white-rot fungi under SSF is described.