Endoglucanase was found to be produced by Streptomyces sp OM 09 using grass as sole carbon source. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the conditions for maximum activity and to understand the significance and interaction of the factors affecting the activity of endoglucanase production in submerged fermentation (SmF). The central composite design was employed to evaluate the effects of substrate concentration (0.1-3%, w/v), pH (4.0-9.0) and temperature 10-50° C. We

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... that substrate concentration, pH and temperature were the significant factors for the activity of endoglucanase and a quadratic polynomial equation was obtained for enzymatic activity. Highest enzyme production was achieved at a substrate concentration of 2.41%, pH 5.10 and temperature 39.84°C. The predicted activity was 1434 IU/ml under optimal conditions and the subsequent verification experiment with the activity of 1370 IU/ml confirmed the validity of the predicted model.