Pectinase Production from Mango Peel Using Aspergillus foetidus and its Application in Processing of Mango Juice

Abstract

The present study was carried out to evaluate mango peel as a substrate for the production of pectinase enzyme by using Aspergillus foetidus in solid state and submerged fermentation systems. The pectin content of 18.2% (w/w) was found in Totapuri mango peel. The highest productivity of polygalacturonase and pectin lyase was obtained with solid state fermentation. Both enzymes had optimum activities at pH 5 and 5.5, at temperatures 35 and 30°C, and incubation time of 120 and 96 h in solid state and submerged fermentations, respectively. Enzymatic extracts obtained for both culture methods showed differences in their electrophoretic mobilities. The Scanning Electron Microscopic studies revealed that the isolated enzyme had degraded the pectin content in mango peel. The pectinase enzyme thus produced in solid state fermentation was utilized for mango juice processing and compared with commercial pectinase. The maximum juice clarification (92.5±0.26%) was obtained at temperature of 40°C and 150 min of incubation time when mango pulp was treated with the isolated pectinase.