Screening of media composition for bioprotein production from Palm Kernel Cake (PKC) by Aspergillus Terreus for fish feed

Abstract

Nowadays, demand for fish feed is high and the rising costs makes the fish feed is no longer profitable for local fish farmers. One way to overcome this problem is by using agro-industrial waste which is palm kernel cake. Palm kernel cake (PKC) is an agro-industrial by-product obtained after extraction of oil palm from oil palm seeds has been used extensively in the animal feed industry. The production of bioprotein from PKC is found to be cheaper in carbon source. In this study, PKC was used as a substrate in Solid State Fermentation (SSF) by isolated strain, Aspergillus terreus UniMAP AA-1 as a practical approach in production of bioprotein in value added product such as fish feed. Objectives of this study are to study the bioprotein production from PKC by using Aspergillus terreus for application as fish feed. Furthermore, this study involves screening the media compositions for bioprotein production by using Design Expert® software. Screening of seven nutrients was carried out using Plackett-Burman design to identify protein content in PKC.