JOURNAL OF PURE AND APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, March 2013. Vol. 7(1), p. 653-660 * To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Mob.:+91-9855030374 E-mail: manojjnu@gmail.com Optimization of Process Parameters for the Production of Cellulases under Solid State Fermentation Nitesh Jadon 2 , Nirmala Devi 1 , Shashank Garg 2 , Anupam Kumar 2 , Yogender Pal Khasa 1 and Manoj Kumar 2 1 Department of Microbiology, University of Delhi, South Campus, Benito Juarez Road, New Delhi - 11 021, India. 2 Department of Biotechnology, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab - 144 402, India. (Received: 04 July 2012; accepted: 10 August 2012) A cellulolytic fungal strain was successfully isolated from local region and further subjected to solid state fermentation (SSF). Optimization of production parameters were done at shake flask level to apply at production scale. Low cost approach was determined for commercial viability of such industrial enzyme. Basic as well as applied parameters were optimized for better production. The maximum activity were recorded as 2.9 U/mL, 8.3 U/mL and 110 U/mL for FPase, CMCase and β-glucosidase respectively at 30 C and pH 6 with wheat bran as substrate with 20% (w/w) inoculums concentration on 5 th day of incubation. These parameters can further be used as benchmark for upscaling of the process for commercial production under SSF conditions. Key words:: Cellulases, Solid State Fermentation, Opimization, FPase, CMCase, β-glucosidase. Application of cellulases (3.2.1.4) are attributed to a wide range of industries such as textile, laundry, pulp and paper, fruit juice extraction, and animal feed additives as well as in bioethanol production 1 . Cellulases have been commercially available for more than 30 years, and these enzymes have represented a target for both academic as well as industrial research 2,3 . These potentials are due to the capacity of cellulases in saccharification of lignocellulosics to fermentable sugars which can be used for production of bioethanol, lactic acid, and single cell protein 4 . Majority of studies on cellulase production have focused on fungi, with relatively lesser emphasis on bacterial sources 1 . Bacterial sources of cellulases include Bacillus, Clostridium, Cellulomonas, Thermomonospora, Ruminococcus, Bacteroides, Erwinia, Acetivibrio, and actinomycetes in particular Streptomyces species 5, 6 . Fungal sources of cellulases includes Aspergillus niger; A. nidulans; A. oryzae; A. terreus; Fusarium solani; F. oxysporum; Humicola insolens; H.grisea; Melanocarpus albomyces; Penicillium brasilianum; P. occitanis; P. decumbans; Trichoderma reesei; T.longibrachiatum; T. harzianum; Chaetomium cellulyticum; C. thermophilum; Neurospora crassa; P. fumigosum;Thermoascus aurantiacus;Mucor circinelloides; P. janthinellum; Paecilomyces inflatus; P. echinulatum; Trichodermaatroviride. Brown rot fungi Coniophora puteana; Lanzites trabeum; Poria placenta; Tyromyces palustris; Fomitopsis sp.White rot fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium;