D.C. PAUL, K. NADARAJAH AND J. KADER
Abstract
The yield, degree of deacetylation, average molecular weight and colour of chitosan extracted from three fungal isolates, Absidia sp. DR, Absidia sp. 2a1 and Rhizo pus sp. grown on three different growth media (YPG [complex media], BC [semi-defined media], and TVB [defined medium]) were compared. Results show that fungi grown on YPG gave rise to higher yield of chitosan per biomass (10% to 18% for Absidia sp. and 11% to 16% for Rhizopus sp.) and a higher average molecular weight (2.370 x 105) as compared to BC (6.765 x 104) and TVB (7.366 x 104). Absidia sp. DR grown on YPG for 60 hours gave the highest yield (18.36% chitosan/biomass). The degree of deacetylation for chitosan was found to be highest when extracted from fungi grown on TVB (84.55%) followed by BC (83.79%) and YPG (82.56%). It was also observed that the lightness value of chitosan was highest for extracts from Rhizopus sp. grown on TVB medium.