20. Use of potato peel waste- a cost effective alternative substrate for the production of industrially useful α-amylase enzyme

Abstract

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the fourth main crop worldwide for human consumption and widely used in food-processing industries, thus generating extremely large amounts of potato peel waste (PPW) as zero value by-product. This study was designed to utilize this PPW as biomaterials for the production of alpha amylase by submerged fermentation using Aspergillus oryzae, isolated from commercial white koji. The study results demonstrated that the maximum amylase production (30 U/ml) was achieved in PPW medium supplemented with yeast extract and salt after 72 hrs of incubation at ambient temperature (28 ± 2°C), pH 7.0 and 120 rpm agitation. Extraction of whole amylase from culture filtrate was found suitable with 80% ammonium sulfate saturation and maximum amylase activity of 42.07 U/ml was achieved after desalting. The purified α-amylase was found optimally active and stable up to 50°C.