FUNGAL PRETREATMENT OF OIL PALM EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH: EFFECT OF MANGANESE AND NITROGEN

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) was biologically pretreated using Pleurotus floridanus LIPIMC996 supplemented with various concentrations of manganese and nitrogen and incubated for 35 days at 30 degrees C, and enzyme activities of manganese peroxidase (MnP) and laccase were examined. When OPEFB was supplemented with manganese, the highest lignin reduction was achieved up to 25.0 +/- 5.6% at the addition of 200 mu g Mn2+/g OPEFB. In addition, Pleurotus floridanus LIPINIC996 grew best on OPEFB supplemented with 800 mu g Mn2+/g OPEFB. When OPEFB was supplemented with nitrogen, the highest lignin reduction was achieved up to 27.2 +/- 3.5% at the addition of 20 mM nitrogen. The best growth of Pleurotus floridanus was also achieved with the addition of 20 mM nitrogen. The addition of nitrogen and manganese on OPEFB did not significantly affect the activity of MnP and laccase.