Banana generates considerably high amount of plant biomass which could be used for various purposes. Banana pseudostem fibre is a lignocellulosic material, from which good quality fibers can be extracted. Banana fibres are extracted using either alkali or acid treatment for degumming which are neither eco-friendly nor user friendly. Pectinase are a group of enzymes which is able to break down pectic polysaccharides of plant tissue. Pectinolytic enzymes catalyzing the degradation of pectic substances are of great industrial importance (Sapunova et al., 1995), (Bajpai, 1999). Since 40% of the dry weight of plant cambium cells is comprised of pectin so pectinases are believed to play a leading role in the processing of bast fibres (Bajpai, 1999). Thus, application of pectinolytic enzymes would loosen the pseudostem tissue thereby facilitating extraction of banana fibres efficiently. In the present study 17 different fungal strains were isolated from soil samples of which only 9 strains found as positive for pectinase activity. Among the strains studied Phoma herbarum and Aspergillius niger showed higher enzymatic production on pectin plate assay. The optimization of pectinase production by submerged fermentation was carried out using Plackett-Burman Design. The highest enzyme activities, were recorded as 7.5 (U/ml) from Phoma herbarum followed by Aspergillius niger 7.0 (U/ml). The study also showed the immense potentiality of Phoma herbarum followed by Aspergillius niger for effective degumming and extraction of banana fibre from pseudostem. Banana fibres treated with enzymes from Phoma herbarum showed higher (tenacity: 137.893 g/den) and Toughness (2.366 g/den) in comparison to Aspergillus niger treated fibre (tenacity: 64.660 g/den), Toughness (0.891 g/den).
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2022: 6.012
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