Application of different immobilized forms of Aspergillus Awamori in in-organic phosphate solubilization

Aspergillus awamori, a phosphate solubilizing filamentous fungas, isolated from waste mushroom bed of Agaricus bisporus in South Korea was immobilized using various immobilized forms such as calcium alginate, agar, ver-miculite and zeolite to assess the phosphate solubilizing potential in free and immobilized forms. Phosphate solubi-lization was carried out in repeated 48 hrs batch fermentation using the fungal strain. Among the four immobi-lized forms used, fungi immobilized with agar were shown to release the highest content of soluble phosphorus into the medium, followed vermiculite and sodium alginate. However phosphate solubilization of the fungal strain immobilized with zeolite was found to be very low. Thus, it can be concluded that a culture technique with immo-bilization especially with agar is more suitable for solubilization of inorganic phosphate by Aspergillus awamori than other forms.