To investigate the growth and production of lignocellulosic enzymes from Fomes sclerodermeus, solid-state fermentation (SSF) was performed by using soy and wheat bran. Both media showed similar maximal values of dry weight loss of the substrate and biomass production, nevertheless enzyme production was markedly different according to the substrate used. Cellulases, xylanases and pectinases in soy bran medium reached the highest activity at 12 days of fermentation, while maximal manganese peroxidase (MnP) activity occurred at 15 days post-inoculation (14.5 U g(-1)), laccase peaked (520 U g(-1)) at the last sampling day (28). Using the medium with a mixture (1:1) of wheat and soy bran, the hydrolases reached the maximum value at 15 days being the amounts of pectinases produced 3-fold higher than those obtained using soy bran as substrate. However, the amounts of ligninases were lower, the values measured for MnP and laccase were 4.64 and 66.7 U g(-1), respectively. Therefore, the high enzyme production along with the very low cost of the substrate, showed the suitability of the system F sclerodermeus-SSF for industrial purposes, being the enzyme production different for each enzymatic system according to substrate composition. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.