Screening of pectinase producing Actinomycetes for food-industrial application

Abstract

This research aimed to isolate actinomycetes capable of producing pectinase enzyme from three orchard soils in Sampran district, Nakhon Pathom province, Thailand. The effectiveness of pectin degradation on solid pectin agar plates incubated at room temperature for 5 days was also investigated. Results revealed the successful isolation of 200 actinomycete isolates from the three orchard soils. Upon screening for pectin degradation ability, 81 isolates exhibited clear zones on the solid agar plates, representing 40. 5% of the total isolates tested. The majority of these pectinolytic isolates ( 50 isolates, representing 25% ) exhibited clear zone ratio between 1. 00 and 2. 99 cm. The remaining isolates showed clear zone ratio of 2. 00- 2. 99 cm ( 21 isolates, 10. 5% ) , 3. 00- 3. 99 cm ( 9 isolates, 4. 5% ) , and 0. 1- 0. 99 cm (1 isolate, 0.5%). Notably, 119 isolates (59.5%) failed to produce pectinase. The isolate with the highest ratio of clear area to colony size was isolate SM4, followed by isolate SM4.2, with a clear area ratio of 3.68 and 3.65 cm, respectively. All 81 isolates were tested for pectinase activity. It was found that isolates SM4.2 and SM4 had the highest enzyme activity values of 0. 7932 and 0. 7872 U/ ml, respectively, on the 5th day of cultivation.