Induced; Thermal Influence on Morphology of Aspergillus carbonarius During Raw Starch Digesting Amylase Production

Abstract

Aim: To investigate increased thermal influence on morphology of Aspergillus carbonarius during RSDA production. Place and Duration of Study: Microbial fermentation Unit, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological sciences, University of Nigeria, between July 2009 and August 2010. Methodology: In shake flask cultures thermal influence on A. carbonarius morphology and productivity investigated. Mycelial morphology was characterised by means of image analysis using as parameters, mean diameter, roughness, circularity and compactness of pellet. Thermal effect on amylase activity, total protein, biomass concentration and pH were also investigated. Results: Shifting the temperature from 27ºC to 37ºC significantly affected the morphological parameters of the pellets, but RSDA activity was not altered. The interesting thing about the morphology is the shearing off of the hairy part of the pellet at an increased temperature and subsequent agglomeration. At 27ºC the RSDA activity increased steadily with an optimum activity of 293U/ml at 96h and subsequently decreased to 75U/ml by the end of the fermentation. At 37ºC a maximum activity of 291U/ml was achieved at 72h of fermentation but this decreased to 87U/ml at the end of fermentation. Higher biomass concentration and total protein were obtained at 37ºC. The pH dropped from an initial of 5.0 to 3.0 and 2.5 for 27ºC and 37ºC temperature conditions respectively. Conclusion: Induced thermal increase resulted to changes in pellet morphology but raw starch digesting amylase activity was not altered.