The Influence of Temperature on Laccase Production in Solid State Fermentation by using White Rot Fungus Marasmius sp.

Laccase(s) are enzyme that capable to degrade lignin in biomass. This capability can be utilized as a biological agent on lignin removal. Laccase has been produced by white rot fungus Marasmius sp in Solid State Fermentation (SSF) using rice straw as the solid support media. The objective of this paper was to investigate the influence of temperature on laccase production in SSF by using Marasmius sp. and rice straw as solid substrate. The temperatures of 25oC, 28oC, 31oC and 34oC were employed to study its influence. The results showed that the first well visible sign of growth of fungus were seen on day 2-3 and the total colonization on solid support occurred within day 7-9. The enzyme activity appeared after 2-5 days of cultivation and gradually increased achieving a maximum values on days 6-10 and then decreased probably due to specific degradation of laccase by extracellular protease present in the culture. The highest laccase activity was achieved at temperature of 31oC (1564.17 U/L on day 10).