Studies of the Estimation of Lipase Production Capability of Some Fungal Species and their Application in Oil Spillage Degradation

During this study three Aspergillus species (A. niger, A. paraciticus and A. aculeatus) were screened for lipase production shown with varying lipolytic activities. The most active one was A. niger followed by A. paraciticus. On the other hand, the least lipase productive organism was A. aculeatus. The fermentation was carried out in shake flask culture employing a liquid media than results was compared with control, and found that all three fungal strains were shown lipase production. Effect of various factors (carbon, nitrogen, time period, pH, temperature, activator and inhibitor) on production of fungal lipase, result were shown that carbon source Tween-20, nitrogenous source -yeast extract, temperature 35C and 55C, pH 9 and 10 supported the production of lipase activity in fermentation media, whereas glycerol and peptone showed moderate effects. Mostly Co2+ Mg2+, Zn2+, Mn2+& Fe2+ act as enhancer of fungal lipase activity, only in few fungal species they inhibit lipase activity where as Hg++ and SDS slightly enhances lipase activity. During optimized conditions lipase activity highly increased in all three fungal species. Also studied the role of these three lipolytic fungal species activity on various oil spillages (Soyabean, Mustard and Coconut Oil) degradation and result shown that maximum lipolytic activity were found in A. niger and A. paraciticus in soyabean oil and A. aculeatus in mustard oil. This study revealed that all fungal strains have capability to degrade soybean, mustard and coconut oil. It also shown that they have ability to degrade other oil spillages or hydrocarbons.