Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Spore Production Under Solid-State Fermentation of Lignocellulosic Residues

This study was conducted to elucidate cultivation conditions determining Bacillus amyloliquefaciens B-1895 growth and enhanced spore formation during the solid-state fermentation (SSF) of agro-industrial lignocellulosic biomasses. Among the tested growth substrates, corncobs provided the highest yield of spores (47 × 10¹⁰ spores g^-1 biomass) while the mushroom spent substrate and sunflower oil mill appeared to be poor growth substrates for spore formation. Maximum spore yield (82 × 10¹⁰ spores g^-1 biomass) was achieved when 15 g corncobs were moistened with 60 ml of the optimized nutrient medium containing 10 g peptone, 2 g KH₂PO₄, 1 g MgSO₄·7H₂O, and 1 g NaCl per 1 l of distilled water. The cheese whey usage for wetting of lignocellulosic substrate instead water promoted spore formation and increased the spore number to 105 × 10¹⁰ spores g^-1. Addition to the cheese whey of optimized medium components favored sporulation process. The feasibility of developed medium and strategy was shown in scaled up SSF of corncobs in polypropylene bags since yield of 10 × 10¹¹ spores per gram of dry biomass was achieved. In the SSF of lignocellulose, B. amyloliquefaciens B-1895 secreted comparatively high cellulase and xylanase activities to ensure good growth of the bacterial culture.