Integrated lignocellulolytic enzyme production and pretreatment of wheat straw by fungal consortium

Inspired by this natural ecological synergy, in the present study, two promising fungal isolates, <i>Trichoderma</i> sp. isolate HR27 and <i>Ganoderma</i> sp. isolate HR31, were isolated and assessed for biocompatibility. Subsequently, their consortium was utilized for single-factorial optimization of various parameters (inoculum size, incubation time, lignocellulosic substrate, temperature, moisture content, pH, surfactant, nitrogen source, co-substrate, and inducer) under solid-state fermentation (SSF) using lignocellulosic waste for enhanced lignocellulolytic enzyme production.

The results revealed that a significant increase in enzyme yield was achieved by utilizing wheat straw as the substrate, supplemented with 1.5 g/L Tween 80 and 0.5 mM CuSO₄ in Asther’s medium with an initial pH of 3.5 at 30˚C. Compared to unoptimized media, optimized media resulted in 5.99, 5.18, 1.13, 2.57, 4.97, and 2.68-fold increases in endoglucanase, exoglucanase, β-glucosidase, mannanase, xylanase, and laccase production, respectively, on the fourth day of fermentation.