Improvement of tea leaves fermentation through pectinases.

The pectinase enzymes isolated from Aspergillus niger, Byssochlamys fulva and Mucor circinelloides were used for fermentation of tea leaves from Camellia sinensis plant. The use of partially purified enzymes from Aspergillus niger and Mucor circinelloides resulted in significant (p < 0.001) increase in the phenolic compounds, hence, improvement in tea quality. Maximum increase in phenolic compounds was found in tea leaves treated with partially purified polygalacturonase (PGase) from Mucor circinelloides. Hence, purified polygalacturonase from Mucor circinelloides was used to study its effect on the improvement of tea leaves fermentation. The partially purified polygalacturonase from Mucor circinelloides was found to be most effective in tea fermentation, whereas pectin lyase from Byssochlamys fulva had little role in improvement of tea quality.