152OPTIMIZATION OF LACTASE PRODUCTION BY SUBMERGED FERMENTATION USING ASPERGILLUS ORYZAEPure cultures of Aspergillus oryzae were cultured and optimized for lactase production. Production medium was supplemented with Soya bean meal, Milk powder, Yeast extract along with essential salt minerals. The fungal culture utilized several carbon sources for Lactase production. Glucose serves as a best carbon source, followed by lactose, maltose and sucrose. Among the various nitrogen sources used in this study, sodium nitrate found to be the best. Certain fermentation parameters involving initial pH, and incubation temperature were studied separately. Maximum lactase production was obtained at initial pH 5, Temperature 30o C, Glucose and, Sodium Nitrate as Carbon and Nitrogen sources respectively.salthaf3@gmail.comResearch362012Lactase,Aspergillus Oryzae,Aspergillus OryzaeAlthaf .SK,Ilyas .Md,Srinivas .P,Praveen Kumar .V,Suneel .B,Baby Rani .PDept. of Biotechnology, Kakatiya University, Warangal-506009, India.,Dept. of Biotechnology, Kakatiya University, Warangal-506009, India.,Dept. of Biotechnology, Kakatiya University, Warangal-506009, India.,Dept. of Microbiology, Kakatiya University, Warangal-506009, India.,Natco Research Centre, Biotech & Fermentation Division, Hyderabad-500 018, India.,Natco Research Centre, Biotech & Fermentation Division, Hyderabad-500 018, India.