Abstract

The production and application of pectinases have been studied in the last decade due to their importance in the degradation of pectin in plant cell walls. The importance of this enzyme is shown in its industrial applications in the fruit juice and textile industries, oil extraction, bleaching of plywood, improvement in diet degradation of dairy animals, and drug delivery, to mention a few. The studies in literature obtained on the SCOPUS database for use in the study were selected based on the methodology of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). The systematic review of literature was limited to open access, agriculture and biological sciences, and biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, subsections on the database. The study was designed to include the microorganisms, the substrates, the research design employed for the enzyme production, and the fermentation method for pectinase production. Other criteria include, the “state” of the pectinase applied, application areas of the enzyme (produced), key findings, and suggestions for further studies (gaps). Despite the 1554 documents accessed on the 4th of May, 2021, on the SCOPUS database involving pectinase, studies concerning both production and application in the last decade resulted in 12 documents relative to 137 documents reported on the production of pectinases from 2011 to 2020. The results from the study showed fungi as the preferred microorganism compared to bacteria for pectinase production and application studies. The one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) design of the experiment was significantly (approximately 75%) employed compared to using response surface methodology (RSM) for pectinase production and application studies. Nevertheless, the findings from the study demonstrate pectinases as an important class of enzymes worth investigating due to its importance in industrial processes.