Eighty filamentous fungi strains isolated from soil of the Atlantic rainforest in the Banhado Grande, an Ecological Station region of Juréia-Itatins, São Paulo State, Brazil, were analysed concerning their potential to produce cellulolytic enzymes in response to the cellulose presence in the culture medium, as the only carbon source. For this purpose, a staining technique using congo red was employed and the cellulase activity on filter paper (FPase) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMCase) were measured. The fungi were differentiated regarding the activity of these enzymes, because such activity changed with the substrate type and with the methodology used. The best CMCase activity (1.64 U) was obtained with the cultivation of Trichoderma harzianum (V) on wheat bran medium after 4 days, at 25 ºC. The obtained results did not supply evidences to differentiate any strain that had better cellulase activity in relation to the others. However, they offer information necessary to evaluate whether Trichoderma strains: T. harzianum III and V, T. inhamatum I, T. longibrachiatum, T. pseudokoningii II, and T. viride I, are potentially good producers of cellulase or not.
Atlantic rainforest; cellulase activity; soil fungi
