Production of amylolytic enzyme from Ragi Tapai (moisture content)

Starch processing are common process in beverages, food, pharmaceutical and textiles industries as well as in bioethanol production. These days, bioconversion of starch using starch acting enzymes are preferred over the conventional method of using chemical catalyst. Therefore, the demand for starch acting enzymes (amylolytic enzymes) has rose tremendously for the past years and expected to increase in the next decade. The objectives of this present study is to produce amylolytic enzymes from Ragi Tapai and to determine the optimum moisture content for the production of amylolytic enzymes. Amylase enzymes was produced through solid state fermentation using Tacca starch as carbon source. The fermentation took place for 96 hours at room temperature (37°C) and samples were taken every 24 hour. The moisture content was varied from 83% to 96%. The result shows that the maximum amylase activity was 0.9314 U/mL.min at 72 hour incubation time and 90% moisture content. The effect of carbon feedstock on amylase activity was also conducted to compare between Tacca starch and soluble starch. It result shows that enzyme activity on Tacca starch was higher than soluble starch.