LAUSR

Agroindustrial activity generates substantial waste during harvesting and processing. This study investigated the potential use of sugarcane bagasse, corn cob husk, and wheat bran as substrates for enzyme production by Aspergillus niger and Ceriporiopsis subvermispora. Aspergillus niger and C. subvermispora exhibited comparable filter paperase (FPase) activity (21.99 and 20.37 U g−1, respectively) when cultivated on corn cob husk supplemented with wheat bran and when cultivated on unsupplemented corn cob husk. However, C. subvermispora showed the highest carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) activity (6858 U g−1) in unsupplemented corn cob husk medium. Laccase activity (1.688 U g−1) was detected exclusively in C. subvermispora cultures. Crude laccase from C. subvermispora was used to treat the azo dye Congo red and the indigoid dye indigo carmine, achieving decolorization efficiencies of 25% and 27%, respectively, after 30 h incubation. Phytotoxicity assays with Lactuca sativa seeds showed that decolorized solutions did not significantly affect germination but caused a 2.5‐fold reduction in root elongation when exposed to decolorized Congo red (50 and 100  mg L−1) and indigo carmine (100 mg L−1). These findings indicate that laccase treatment can partially decolorize these dyes, although further optimization is needed to reduce the phytotoxic effects of the degradation products.