Phytase Production by Aspergillus niger CFR 335 and Aspergillus ficuum SGA 01 through Submerged and Solid-State Fermentation.

Fermentation is one of the industrially important processes for the development of microbial metabolites that has immense
applications in various fields.This has prompted to employ fermentation as a major technique in the production of phytase from
microbial source. In this study, a comparison was made between submerged (SmF) and solid-state fermentations (SSF) for the
production of phytase from Aspergillus niger CFR 335 and Aspergillus ficuum SGA 01. It was found that both the fungi were capable
of producing maximum phytase on 5th day of incubation in both submerged and solid-state fermentation media. Aspergillus niger
CFR 335 and A. ficuum produced amaximum of 60.6 U/gds and 38 U/gds of the enzyme, respectively, in wheat bran solid substrate
medium. Enhancement in the enzyme level (76 and 50.7 U/gds) was found when grown in a combined solid substrate medium
comprising wheat bran, rice bran, and groundnut cake in the ratio of 2 : 1 : 1. A maximum of 9.6 and 8.2 U/mL of enzyme activity
was observed in SmF by A. niger CFR 335 and A.ficuum, respectively, when grown in potato dextrose broth.