ABSTRACT
Naringin was extracted from lemon peels with extraction yield of 0.25%. Two assay methods were used to assay for naringinase activity, one is naringin disappearance assay method and the other is reducing sugars appearance assay method. The naringinase activities for the crude enzyme were found to be 157.7 µmol/min using naringin disappearance method and 493.64 µmol/min using reducing sugars appearance method. Ammonium sulphate saturation (50%) was found suitable for precipitation of naringinase with highest activity. After gel filtration a 32.84 fold increase was observed with specific activity of 7279.37 µ/mg using naringin disappearance assay method and a 20.48 fold increase with specific activity of 14463.57 µ/mg using reducing sugars appearance assay method. The percentage yields were found to be 11.63% using naringin disappearance assay method and 7.38% using reducing sugars appearance assay method. The optimum pH and temperature were found to be 3.50 and 50OC, respectively using both the naringin disappearance and reducing sugar appearance assay method. The Michealis constant, Km and maximum velocity, Vmax obtained from Lineweaver-Burk plot of initial velocity data at different concentration of naringin were found to be 5.8 mg/ml and 1111.11 µmol/min using reducing sugars appearance assay method.
