C. PUTATUNDA AND B.S. KUNDU
Abstract
Proteases are a very important type of enzymes with a wide array of applications. In the present study, the impact of various factors like pH, temperature, incubation period, Carbon source, Nitrogen source etc. were assessed on the protease production by five bacterial isolates viz. HD183, HS97, KF96, KF98 and HD292 under in vitro conditions. The temperature of 40-45oC, pH 8-10, incubation period of 72- 96 hrs. were found optimum for protease production by these isolates. Glucose and casein were good carbon and nitrogen sources respectively for all the isolates. The two isolates HD292 and KF98 were finally selected for further studies on the basis of protease production. On the basis of various morphological and biochemical characteristics, both the isolates HD292 and KF98 were identified as genus Bacillus sp. The use of cheaper substrates like wheat bran, oat meal, soy meal for protease production was tried with the objective to reduce the over-all cost of enzyme production. The isolate HD292 gave highest protease yield with castor oil cake.