NAGARAJ M. NAIK, K.S. JAGADEESIV AND S.G. PATIL
Abstract
Out of 17 mangroove fungal isolates, K1 ana Ku3 were found promising with significantly higher decolorization yields at all the concentrations of spentwash tested (20 - 70%). Based on conidial morphology and fruiting body formation, K1 was identified as Aspergillus sp. and KU3 as Pleurotus sp. The process parameters were optimized. Glucose @ 1.0 per cent was found to be the best co-substrate for both the isolates. Yeast extract @ 1.0 per cent was the optimum N source. Optimum pH and temperature for both fungi were 5.0 and 30°C, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the isolates decolorized 30 per cent concentrated spentwash by 83 and 81 per cent respectively in nine days.