Production of xylanase enzyme through bioconversion of agricultural waste

Oil palm fronds (OPF) which were collected from Sime Darby Oil Palm Factory Merlimau, Melaka can be used as substrates for the cultivation of various microorganisms for the production of different products which are important for industrial application via solid state fermentation (SSF), particularly for this research, xylanase enzyme. SSF is generally defined as the growth of the microorganisms on solid material in the absence or near absence of free water. Fungi are attracting greater interest than bacteria as potential sources of plant cell wall hydrolyzing xylanases because they secrete high levels of the enzymes into the culture medium. Thus, a fungi namely Aspergillus niger (obtained from the Microbiology Laboratory, University Selangor) was used to degrade the hemicelluloses (found in the substrate) and produce xylanase as the secondary metabolite. Xylanase can be used in the food and beverage, feedstock improvement, kraft pulp bleaching, in poultry industry, de-inking of newspaper and agricultural waste degradation. Three fermentation parameters were studied in the research, namely fermentation days, moisture content of the fermentation medium and carbon source. The best day for the optimum xylanase production was in day six with the enzyme activity of 0.6506 U/min. Meanwhile, 70% of the moisture content gives the highest enzyme activity of 0.624 U/min and carbon source from sucrose gives 0.624 U/min of xylanase activity compared to other carbon sources.