Nutritional factor affecting protease production

Proteases have attracted a great deal in the industry because of its function and due to their broad range of applications in industries industries. Nutritional factors are known to affect the production of microbial enzymes Optimization of protease must be done to increases the production. Without optimization the production of protease will, be low. Optimization of the growth conditions for maximum protease production was carried out using the bacteria LK11. The bacterium produced protease rot ease at maximum rate after 24 hours of incubation at 40°C and 4% (v/v) inoculum size. In order to enhance the production of protease, the effects of major medium ingredients, such as carbon source, nitrogen sources, inorganic nitrogen source, amino acid source and metal ions, on the production of the enzyme were investigated. The best carbon and organic nitrogen sources for this bacterium were fructose and yeast extract. While the most effective inorganic nitrogen and amino acid sources were ammonium sulphate and glycine. Meanwhile addition of all metal sources reduced the protease activity. The combination of fructose, yeast extract, glycine and ammonium sulphate produce the highest protease activity that is 237 U/ml.