Cellulolytic activities of some filamentous fungi from soil

Abstract

Twenty fungal species were isolated and identified from soil collected from Tanta city –Gharbia Governorate- Egypt, The fungal species belonging to five genera i.e. Aspergillus, Penicillium , Fusarium , Trichoderma and Stachybotrys. The Cellulolytic activity of the isolated fungi were evaluated insoild medium by staining the fungal colonies with 0 .1% congo red. Out of the twenty fungal species only sixteen species recorded cellulolytic activity, the cellulolytic fungi were selected to estimate the CMCase, FPase and BGase in liquid medium. All tested fungi showed considerable activity for the three enzymes. The highest CMCase and B-Gase activities were recorded with A.terreus (43.30 and 33.20 u/ml respectively) while Penicillium lanosum showed the highest FPase activity (29.20 u/ml). The results indicated that maximum total cellulolytic activity were recorded with A.terreus followed by A.flavipes and A.sydawi (91.30, 83.50 and 74.8 u/ml respectively).