Medium Optimization for the Production of Biomass by <i>Cunninghamella</i> sp. 2A1 using Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

A statistical design approach has been used to optimize the production of biomass by Cunninghamella sp. 2A1, evaluated based on lipidless biomass. A 2³ full factorial central composite design (CCD) was chosen to study the combined effects of three factors; ammonium tartrate, peptone and glucose concentrations. The p-value for each factors was < 0.05 suggesting that these factors have significant effect on the production of lipidless biomass. The production is represented by a linear model with p-value < 0.0001. The optimized medium consists of 3.86 g/l ammonium tartrate, 55.84 g/l glucose and 7.73 g/l peptone predicted 16.83 g/l lipidless biomass. Results from four replications based on the optimized medium produced 18.48 g/l lipidless biomass, which are in close agreement with the predicted value. The coefficient for glucose was the highest indicating it as the most significant factor affecting lipidless biomass production. Keywords: Medium optimization, Cunninghamella sp. 2A1, Biomass, Response surface. AJSTD Vol.22(3) pp.223-231 (2005)