Title: Solid-state fermentation for production of gibberellic acid using agricultural residues

Authors: Devanand Satpute, Vishal Sharma, Kshama Murarkar, Madhukar Bhotmange, Dattatraya Dharmadhikari

Addresses: Environmental Biotechnological Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440 020, India. ' Environmental Biotechnological Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440 020, India. ' Environmental Biotechnological Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440 020, India. ' Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, India. ' Environmental Analytical Instrumentation Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440 020, India

Abstract: Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) was employed using agricultural residues, viz. pigeon pea pod (Cajanus cajan), corncobs (Zea mays), sorghum straw (Sorghum vulgare) and pea pod (Pisum sativum) for the production of gibberellic acid (GA₃) using Fusarium proliferatum NCIM1105. Studies revealed that these agricultural residues have supported excellent growth of the fungi in modified medium and gave significant yield of the GA₃ with 50–60% purity using solvent-buffer-solvent extraction process. In the present work, a nutrient medium was developed and was used to enrich the solid substrate and inoculum preparation. The agricultural residue of pigeon pea pod was found most suitable substrate (6.4–7.8 mg GA₃/g) followed by pea pods (5.7–6.4 mg GA₃/g), corncobs (5.2–6.1 mg GA₃/g) and sorghum straw (4.1–5.5 mg GA₃/g) for production of GA₃ measured over HPLC. In SSF, parameters such as initial moisture content, particle size, temperature and nutrient medium concentration were controlled for optimum yield of GA₃ in pigeon pea pod residue.

Keywords: gibberellic acid; Fusarium proliferatum; agricultural residue; SSF; solid state fermentation; HPLC; high performance liquid chromatography; bioremediation; pigeon pea pods; Cajanus cajan; corncobs; Zea mays; sorghum straw; Sorghum vulgare; pea pods; Pisum sativum; moisture content; particle size; temperature; nutrient concentration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2010.035924

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2010 Vol.43 No.1/2/3, pp.201 - 213

Published online: 09 Oct 2010 *

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