Studies on the utilization of citrus peel for pectinase production using fungusAspergillus niger

The fruit processing industries produce a large amount of waste material, which poses considerable disposal problems and ultimately leads to pollution. In the processing of citrus fruits, a large proportion of the produce goes waste in the form of peel, pulp and seeds. Dried citrus peel is rich in carbohydrates, proteins and pectin; pectin acts as the inducer for production of pectinolytic enzymes by microbial systems. Thus, in the present study, dried citrus peel was used as substrate for the production of pectinase (Endopolygalacturonase; EC 3.2.1.15) by fungus Aspergillus niger. Maximum enzyme activity was obtained with 15% substrate, which gives a semi‐solid mass, when incubated at 30°C for 120 h.