Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T3-11aR-1263
Isolation and Quantitative Screening of Potential Fungal Isolates for
Cellulase Activity
Savitha Santosh 2 , Diksha Ramteke 1 , K. Velmourougane 1 , D. Blaise 1 , V. K. Singh 2
1 ICAR – Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur 440010
2 ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059
* savitha.santosh@icar.gov.in
Plant biomass is an abundant renewable natural resource that can be transformed into chemical
feedstocks and mostly made up of hemicelluloses, cellulose, lignin and a small amount of
protein and pectin depending on the source (Xu et al., 2018). Many microorganisms are capable
of degrading and utilizing cellulose and hemicellulose as carbon and energy sources. The fungi
represent the predominant group of organisms responsible for lignocelluloses degradation.
Fungi have two types of extracellular enzymatic systems: the hydrolytic system, which
produces hydrolases that are responsible for polysaccharide degradation; and a unique
oxidative and extracellular ligninolytic system, which degrades lignin and opens phenyl rings.
The cellulases are enzymes produced by cellulolytic microorganisms, which are essential for
releasing fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass. Enzymatic saccharification of
natural lignocellulose is required, and the use of cellulose-degrading enzymes becomes crucial
when working with lignocellulosic substrates (Zhang et al., 2021). Endoglucanases (CMCase),
exoglucanases (FPase), and β-glucosidases are the most relevant enzymes for cellulose
degradation. Therefore, this study was carried out with an aim to isolate and quantify cellulase
activity of potential fungal isolates.
Methodology
The soil samples were collected from seven different locations of Nagpur district, Maharashtra.
The isolation of fungi was carried out by serial dilution and colonies growing over the medium
were observed for their morphological characteristics and identified. The isolates were
subjected to quantitative screening in submerged cultivations in Erlenmeyer flasks containing
50 ml of basal medium [1.4 g/L (NH 4) 2SO 4, 2.0 g/L KH 2PO 4, 0.4 g/L CaCl 2, 0.3 g/L MgSO 4,
1.56 mg/L MnSO 4.H 2O, 5.0 mg/L FeSO 4.7H 2O, 1.4 mg/L ZnSO 4.7H 2O and 2.0 mg/L CoCl 2
containing 10.0 g/l of CMC (pH 5.0)]. After sterilization of the basal medium, the flasks were
incubated with plugs (5 mm diameter) and the fungal mycelia were grown on medium and
incubated at 30°C with shaking at 150 rpm. The crude enzyme was collected at different
incubation days (7,14 and 21) using centrifugation at 10,000 rpm and 4°C for 15 min and
analysed for Endoglucanase (CMCase), Exoglucanase (FPase) and β- glucosidase activity
(Namnuch et al., 2021).
Managing genetic resources for enhanced stress tolerance
360 | Page