The Study of pH to Cellulase Enzyme Activity and Degradation Activity of Agricultural Materials from Fungi Culture Broth isolated from M. posthuma Earthworm Gut

Abstract

The earthworm Metaphire posthuma plays a significant role in determining soil quality and properties in agricultural systems due to the presence of beneficial microorganisms in its gut. These microorganisms help produce useful compounds, such as plant hormones and enzymes. In this study, fungal strains exhibiting distinct colony morphologies were isolated from the gut of M. posthuma on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA). All fungal isolates were found to produce cellulase enzyme on CMC agar. Among them, isolate MEW41 exhibited the highest cellulase production index. Preliminary morphological identification indicated that MEW41 belongs to the genus Penicillium. The cellulase enzyme from MEW41 was further examined under different pH conditions, and its highest enzymatic activity was recorded at pH 5.0. When the fungal culture filtrate from MEW41 was used to degrade agricultural substrates for 24 hours, the enzymatic hydrolysis yielded reducing sugar concentrations of 1.98 mg/ml from dried sugarcane bagasse, 0.83 mg/ml from dried coconut husk, and 0.73 mg/ml from dried rice straw. These findings reveal preliminary characteristics of the cellulase enzyme produced by a fungus isolated from the gut of M. posthuma, suggesting its potential application in large-scale enzymatic degradation of agricultural biomass.