Effect of exhaustion of olive pomace on cellulases production from Trichoderma reesei RUT C30 and identification of the enzyme complexes

Olive industry generates large quantities of solid by-products such as olive pomace. The objective of present work is to study the effect of exhaustion (residual oil extraction) by acetone solvent on the improvement of cellulase production using olive pomace as substrate, and to identify the crude enzymatic extract by electrophoretic analysis. The production of cellulases was done by the solid fermentation process using Trichoderma reesei RUT C30 as cellulolytic fungus grown on olive pomace. Cellulolytic activity was assessed by the filter paper method (FPase). Electrophoretic analysis by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was performed for the identification of enzymatic extract of T. reesei RUT C30. Chemical composition (lipids, proteins, sugars and ash) was significantly (P < 0.05) affected after olive pomace exhaustion. In general, exhaustion by acetone solvent increased the fiber fraction. Exhaustion improved the results of FPase activity compared to those obtained on untreated substrate, giving values of 2.63 IU/gds and 1.1 IU/gds, respectively. The results of SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the crude enzymatic extract contains two different enzyme complexes including cellulases and xylanases.