Effect of Various Parameters on Activity of Pectinase Enzyme

Pectinase enzymes are today one of the upcoming enzyme of commercial sector. It has been reported that microbial pectinase account for 25% of global food sales. Primarily, these enzymes are heterogeneous group of enzymes that hydrolyse the pectin substance, present mostly in plants. The present study was under taken for pectinolytic enzyme production and selection of more efficient isolates for industrial applications. The objective of this work consists of determining the optimum parameters for maximum activity of pectinase enzyme. The characterization of crude enzyme was done for temperature, pH, time course, substrate concentration, enzyme concentration and metal ions. It was found that for isolate P1 and P57 the optimum temperature was 37°C and for isolate P13 and P58 the optimum temperature was noted at 30°C. The isolate P1 and P58 showed maximum activity at pH 6 which is slightly acidic pH while the crude enzyme from isolates P13, P57 showed highest activity at pH 8 which is slightly alkaline pH. It was observed that Zinc enhanced the activity of isolate P1, P57 and P58 while it showed inhibitory effect on isolate P13. Magnesium, Calcium, Barium and Manganese acted as good activators for all the isolates. Iron showed inhibitory effect on isolate P1, P13 and P57 while it enhanced the activity of enzyme from isolate P58. Potassium enhanced activity of enzyme from isolates P1, P13 and P57 while it showed strong inhibition on the enzyme isolated from isolate P58.