International Journal of Pharma Research & Review, Sept 2013; 2(9):24-29 S K Mohan et.al, IJPRR 2013; 2(9) 24 Research Article Application of Plackett-Burman Design for Screening the Media Components for Tannase Production from Redgram Husk using Submerged Fermentation *S. K. Mohan, T. Viruthagiri, C. Arunkumar Department of Chemical Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamilnadu, India. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT In the present study, effect of medium components on tannase enzyme production from redgram husk using Aspergillus foetidus (MTCC 3557) was studied. The substrate employed in this research was collected from agriculture waste which is abundantly available in southern part of India. Placket-Burman Design (PBD) was used to evaluate the significant parameters that have large effect on the fermentation and with this experimental design a successful results were obtained. Plackett–Burman experimental design assumed that there were no interactions between the different variables in the range under consideration. A linear approach was considered to be sufficient for screening. Plackett –Burman experimental design was a fractional factorial design and the main effects of such a design may be simply calculated as the difference between the average of measurements made at the high level (+1) of the factor and the average of measurements at the low level ( –1). The twelve variables namely concentrations of eleven nutrients (ammonium nitrate, ammonium chloride, sodium nitrate, ammonium sulphate, magnesium sulphate, ferrous sulphate, potassium chloride, potassium di-hydrogen phosphate, yeast extract, urea and peptone) and inducer tannic acid were screened in twenty experimental trials. From standard Plackett-Burman data analysis it was conformed that, concentration of tannic acid, concentration of potassium di-hydrogen phosphate, concentration of magnesium sulphate and concentration of ferrous sulphate were found to be the most significant for tannase enzyme production. Keywords: Aspergillus foetidus, media components, plackett-burman design, redgram husk, submerged fermentation, tannase. Received 07 August 2013 Received in revised form 18 August 2013 Accepted 19 August 2013 *Address for correspondence: S. K. Mohan Department of Chemical Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamilnadu, India. E-mail: skmohan75@gmail.com _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Tannin acyl hydrolase, also known as Tannase (E.C.3.1.1.20) is an inducible enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of ester linkages in hydrolysable tannins resulting in the production of gallic acid and glucose [1]. It is used widely in the manufacture of instant tea, acorn wine and gallic acid [2, 3]. Gallic acid is an important substrate for the synthesis of propyl gallate in the food industry and trimethoprim in the pharmaceutical industry [4]. Tannase also has potential applications in the clarification of beer and fruit juices, manufacture of coffee flavoured soft drinks [5]. In addition, tannase has been extensively used for the treatment of leather industry waste water containing tannic acid [6]. Although it has several industrial applications, only a few filamentous fungi, chiefly Aspergillus and Penicillium have been reported to produce tannase [7, 8]. In Industrial level tannase is mainly produced by Aspergillus species under submerged fermentation (SmF). The SmF is widely used for enzyme production because it offers many advantages like uniform process conditions namely concentration, Temperature, pH, aeration and agitation in the bioreactors [1]. Improvement in productivity of tannases by Aspergillus foetidus (MTCC 3557) is done by manipulating the nutritional and physical parameters in submerged fermentation. Therefore the development of an economical production medium requires