Isolation, screening and identification of potential cellulolytic and xylanolytic mold from oil palm waste

The objective of this research was to isolate, screen, and identify the cellulase and xylanase-producing mold from oil palm waste. There are thirty-two isolates from oil palm waste which are able to degrade and grow on media containing cellulose or xylan as a sole carbon source. Screening to determine cellulolytic and xylanolytic activity was performed by paper disc diffusion method using Congo Red as an indicator. All the thirty-two mold isolates showed cellulolytic and xylanolytic activity with relative enzyme activity (ratio of hydrolysed zone diameter and diameter of colony growth) ranging from 1.04 to 1.62. Based on the macro- and micromorphology characteristics, these isolates were identified as genus Trichoderma, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Tallaromyces and Penicillium, with the number isolates in each genus was 22, 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively. The highest cellulolytic and xylanolytic activity was achieved from the isolate namely OPT1(4) which was identified as Talaromyces pinophilus using morphological and molecular analysis. Under the optimum condition (30°C, 72 hours) in liquid medium containing carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and birch wood xylan as the main carbon source, Talaromyces pinophilus OPT1(4) presented glucanase and xylanase activity of 15.17 U/mL and 13.35 U/mL, respectively.