Establishing Experimental Conditions to Produce Lignin-Degrading Enzymes on Wheat Bran by Trametes versicolor CM13 Using Solid State Fermentation

Valorisation of wheat bran can be achieved by solid state fermentation (SSF), through application of this material as a growth substrate for a natural white rot fungal isolate, Trametes versicolor CM13, to produce lignin-degrading enzymes. One of the main challenges in optimising and upscaling (SSF) processes is the accurate adjustment and maintenance of moisture conditions. This factor was assessed in the scale up of microcosms and was evaluated over 28 days, under two slightly different moisture contents, reflecting minor differences in experimental conditions during set up and operation of the SSF process. In addition, the microcosms were processed differently from the initial trial using homogenisation of whole microcosms to create a homogeneous mixture prior to sampling. This appeared to result in less variation among the collected samples from the microcosms. Variation of measured parameters as a percentage of actual values measured ranged from 1.33% to 144% in the unmixed microcosms and from 0.77% to 36.0% in the pre-mixed microcosms. Decomposition in the more saturated microcosms progressed more quickly as hemicellulose content decreased and reached a steady state after 14 days, whereas hemicellulose content continued to decrease until 21 days in the less saturated microcosms. Lignin-degrading enzyme activities were not significantly different between either sets of experiments except for laccase on day 7. Laccase and manganese peroxidase activities were highest on day 21 and were similar in both sets of experiments. Enzyme activities on day 21 in the microcosms at moisture content of 42.9% and at 54.6% for laccase activities were 750 ± 30.5 and 820 ± 30.8 units, and for manganese peroxidase, activities were 23.3 ± 6.45 and 21.4 ± 21.4 units, respectively. These results revealed different decomposition rates during the early stage of solid-state fermentation as a function of the initial moisture content, whereas final enzyme activities and fibre content during the later stage were similar in microcosms having different moisture contents at the start.