3.3. Cellulase Production in Liquid Culture
In order to determine the cellulase production capacity of the 11 selected strains, liquid cultures in shaken flasks were carried out with either microcrystalline cellulose or lactose as carbon sources for 72 h at 28°C. Growth was generally better on lactose than on cellulose for most of the strains as shown in Figure 1(a). Penicillium sp. LM-HP14 attained the highest biomass level in both culture media ( mg mL−1 on lactose and mg mL−1 on cellulose) and Penicillium sp. LM-HP06 the lowest ( mg mL−1 on lactose and mg mL−1 on cellulose). Likewise, extracellular soluble protein production was much higher on lactose in all strains (Figure 1(b)).