Utilization of Peach-palm waste for cost-effective amylase production by <i>Trichoderma stromaticum</i>: Stability and industrial potential

Amylases are among the most important enzymes for biotechnological and industrial applications. The present work aimed to analyse the use of agro-industrial waste as a low-cost substrate to the obtention of the amylase by the fungus <i>Trichoderma stromaticum</i> AM7 (CCMB617P) under solid state fermentation (SSF). The fungus was able to produce amylase using solely peach palm waste as a substrate (29.2 U/gds), however when a simplex centroid mixture design was applied to optimise the composition of the nitrogen source, peptone, and ammonium phosphate (7:3 w/w) in a total of 1% were added and an increase of the 45% (42.4 U/gds) was observed in relation to the activity initially obtained. The physicochemical characterisation of amylase revealed the optimum activity at pH 4.0 and temperature 50 °C to 60 °C. The amylase retained around 90% of its activity in a pH range from 4.0 to 7.0 and a temperature 40 °C to 70 °C, and 60% in a range from 80 °C to 100 °C, for up to 1 h. Amylase showed an increase in its activity with Al²⁺, Ag²⁺, and Co²⁺, however, the Cu²⁺negatively influenced the enzymatic activity. The enzyme was stable in the presence of SDS and β-mercaptoethanol. The cost-effective enzyme extraction and stable amylase highlight its strong potential in industry applications, especially in food processes.