Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ISOLATION AND SCREENING OF CELLULOLYTIC AND XYLANOLYTIC MICROBES FROM COMPOSTS AND RELATED ENVIRONMENTS

K. Asha, G. Selvakumar and B. Thippeswamy

Abstract

Twenty five bacterial and seventy fungal isolates from compost pits and related environments were screened for their cellulolytic activities on Carboxy Methyl Cellulose (CMC) containing media. Fungal isolates were additionally screened for their xylanolytic activity on xylan agar. Identification of elite isolates was done by sequencing of the 16S rRNA/ITS regions of bacteria and fungi respectively. On CMC agar (0.1% CMC), six bacterial isolates exhibited cellulolytic indices ranging from 6-8. The aerobic endospore forming bacterial isolate Bacillus tequilensis- CB-17 recorded the highest total cellulase activity followed by Bacillus cereus CB- 7. Four elite fungal isolates possessing cellulolytic indices ranging from 1.2-1.6 on Mandel and Resse agar (1% CMC), were subjected to quantitative estimation of their total cellulolytic activity. Aspergillus sp.-FCLF-1 recorded the highest total cellulase activity followed by Aspergillus sp. TMLF-1 and Penicillium citrinum CF-20. Four fungal cultures that showed xylanolytic indices ranging from 1.7-3.0 were subjected to quantitative estimation of their xylanase activity. Aspergillus sp.-CF-11 recorded the highest xylanase activity followed by Aspergillus oryzae- CP-2.