Screening and Partial Characterization of Cellulose Degrading Bacteria from Decayed Sawdust

In this study, sixteen bacterial strains were isolated from decayed sawdust and they were further screened for cellulolytic activity using Czapeks medium containing carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) as selective agent. Based on solubilization index, ten bacterial isolates were selected and were further characterized by grown in Czapeks medium containing various concentration of carboxy methyl cellulose at 28C, 37C and 45C in different pH condition such as acidic (6.0), neutral (7.0) and alkaline (8.0) conditions. All the isolates were able to degrade the sawdust to varying extent. But the cellulolytic bacterial isolates showed a good growth in medium with 1.5 percent carboxy methyl cellulose at neutral (pH 7.0) conditions. The effect of temperature also showed that bacterial isolates were able to grow well at 37oC. Among, five isolates Bacillus spp1, Bacillus spp2, Micrococcus spp, Pseudomonas spp1 and Acinetobacter spp, showed the better cellulose activity.