Enzymatic production of prebiotic xylooligosaccharides from sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor (L.) xylan: value addition to sorghum bagasse

In the present study, xylooligosaccharides (XOS) production was carried out using sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor (L.)) xylan and xylanase from isolated Aspergillus fumigates RSP-8 followed by evaluation of their prebiotic potential using Lactobacillus sp. T-10. Isolated xylan revealed structural similarity to Birchwood xylan and is composed of xylose (89%) arabinose (6%) and glucose (5%). Xylanase enzyme produced by Aspergillus fumigatus RSP-8 revealed 43 kDa molecular weight with little β-glucosidase and depicted optimum activity of 1248 U/mL at pH 5.0 and temp 50 °C. Time-dependent XOS [(X2 (xylobiose) to X7 (xyloheptose)] production was noticed and differed from source to source. XOS production kinetics indicated that maximum XOS (8.4 g reducing sugar/L) was obtained in 12 h at 50 °C with 50 U/mL xylanase with 1.5% (w/v) sorghum xylan as substrate. The produced XOS promoted Lactobacillus T-10 growth indicating its prebiotic potential. This study can provide useful insights into the processes required for further upscaling of agricultural biomass to nutraceutical product production and the industrial application potential of sorghum xylan.