Abstract
The present study aimed to produce gibberellic acid through fermentation using banana (Musa sapientum) peel waste as substrate. Banana peel, a domestic and industrial waste, constitutes a potential source of cheap fermentable substrate for the production of other value-added products. Fusarium moniliforme ATCC 10052 and Aspergillus niger CBS 513.88 were used as fermenting organisms. The substrate was dried, ground and its proximate composition determined. The powdered substrate was added to a modified CzapekDox broth (a semisynthetic medium), with Carboxyl methylcellulose (CMC) as control. The fermentation conditions were: pH 5.5; inoculum size 1% (5 × 105 spores/mL F. moniliforme) (2 × 106 spores/mL A. niger); substrate concentration 2 g; temperature 25 ± 2 oC; fermentation time 7 days. The fermentation was optimized by varying pH, inoculum size, substrate concentration and fermentation time. The extracted GA was subjected to infra-red spectroscopy using FT-IR. The parameters which gave the highest GA yields were thereafter combined in a single fermentation. The results of proximate analysis of banana peel substrate revealed 8.65% moisture, 9.54% protein, 5.40% lipids, 11.45% ash, 22.34% crude fibre, and 42.62% carbohydrate. The GA yields of 13.55 g/L and 12.44 g/L were produced from the banana peel substrate and 3.62 and 2.61 g/L from the CMC control by F. moniliforme and A. niger respectively. Under optimized conditions, F. moniliforme produced 17.48 g/L GA, while A. niger produced 13.50 g/L. Extracted GA was similar to standard GA sample and the present results support the potential use of banana peel for fermentative GA production.
Highlights
The gibberellins, defined as a group of naturally occurring plant hormones containing the tetracyclic system, are well-known phytohormones (Bömke and Tudzynski, 2009)
The microorganisms used for the fermentation were Fusarium moniliforme ATCC 10052 and Aspergillus niger CBS 513.88 obtained from the Microbial Culture Collection of the Dept. of Microbiology, University of Ilorin, Nigeria and they were maintained on PDA slants at 4 oC until use
Gibberellic acid production by F. moniliforme peaked at 13.55 g/L on day 6, while the maximum yield was 12.44 g/L by A. niger (Table 1)
Summary
The gibberellins, defined as a group of naturally occurring plant hormones containing the tetracyclic system, are well-known phytohormones (Bömke and Tudzynski, 2009). Microbial production of GA in a cost-effective manner is an important factor which is considered in industrial processes, and this may be achieved by utilization of agro waste materials (Pandey et al, 2000). Received in revised form: 09 Mar 2018. The method of disposal can constitute an environmental or ecological hazard Instead of discarding these fruit wastes, they can be utilized as cheap substrate for fermentation purposes, where they will serve for the production of other value added products. The microbial production of GA using cheap fermentable substrates has been investigated by various researchers. The study, aimed to establish a dual importance: production of an economically important compound by utilizing readily available agro wastes (whose accumulation could be a burden on the environment) and offering a sustainable, viable and relatively cheap alternative to synthetic GA
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