Isolation and Production of Cellulase from Bacteria Using Agro Waste

ABSTRACT: The development of appropriate procedures for the efficient treatment and utilization of wastes containing cellulose as an inexpensive carbon source has grown to be of substantial economic relevance. Cellulase enzyme, which is known to be produced by bacteria is responsible for degrading cellulose. Thus, isolation of Bacteria producing cellulase was performed using soil sample that were identified as Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter cloacae using CMC medium. The medium for fermentation was optimized for maximum cellulase to be produced by the potential isolate. Various parameters like the time of Incubation, temperature, pH, nitrogen sources and carbon sources, were considered for optimization. The culture condition was optimized and found to be 40°C at pH 7 with maximum activity in the presence of ammonium sulphate and lactose as nitrogen and carbon sources respectively. Amongst these isolates the maximum cellulase activity was shown by Enterobacter cloacae followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis by comparative study. The supplement for the medium was various agricultural waste added as an alternate source of carbon to produce cellulase. The medium with the presence of rice husk (1.76 IU/ml), followed by wheat husk(1.51 IU/ml) and castor seed waste (0.65 IU/ml), had the highest cellulase activity. Thus, this work aimed to compare the potential of all the above-mentioned isolates to use agro-waste for production of cellulase at optimized parameters.