Optimization of the process parameters for the utilization of orange peel to produce polygalacturonase by solid-state fermentation from an Aspergillus sojae mutant strain

The effect of orange peel concentration, HCl concentration, incubation time and temperature, and inoculum size on the spore count and activity of polygalacturonase (PG) enzyme produced from Aspergillus sojae M3 by solid-state fermentation was screened using 2(k) factorial design. Orange peel and HCl concentrations and incubation time were significant factors affecting the responses. Optimum conditions favoring both PG and spore production from Aspergillus sojae M3 were determined as 2% orange peel and 50 mM HCl concentrations at 22 degrees C and 4.3 days of incubation. An overlay plot was constructed for use as a practical chart for production of high enzyme activity (>35.0 U/g substrate) and spore count (9.0 x 10(8) to 2.0 x 10(9) spore/mL) by superimposing the contours of PG activity and spore count responses. The accuracy and reliability of the constructed models on the responses was validated with the maximum calculated error rate between the predicted and actual activities at 14.1% and 22.4%, respectively.