Exploring the Production of Amylase Using Rice Grains as Substrate via Solid State Fermentation

One of the most widely used enzymes in industries is amylase. It is used in the hydrolyses of starch to produce sugar syrup, which contains glucose and maltose. This study was aimed at exploring the production of amylase using solid state as means of fermentation. Rice grains were used for the fermentation process, which lead to the production of enzyme. The rice grains were soaked in distilled water and washed and it was then dried at 45 - 50 ° C for pre-treatment. Nutrient broth was prepared and inoculated with Bacillus species. The inoculated broth was centrifugedto get the supernatant at 3000 rpm for 10 mins. 5 ml of sterile distilled water was used to re –suspend the cell pellet and added to 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask containing 4 g of pre-treated rice straw. The fermentation medium was evenly mixed with the rice grain and microbial cell. The flask containing the mixture of fermentation media, microbial cells and solid substrate was incubated at 37 0C. The α-amylase enzyme was extracted at different intervals for 7 days. Sample 1 had an enzyme activity of 12.66 ± 0.126 U/g on day 0 and an activity of 55.55±1.154 on day 7. Sample 3 had the highest activity of 101.48 ± 1.28 U/mg on day 3. The rice grain proved to be effective for amylase production, showing the feasibility of using agricultural product like rice grain as substrate for the production of amylase with optimal production conditions.