Abstract:
Cellulose, a major constituent of plant cell wall, is the most abundant biological polymer on
earth. The use of various cellulolytic microorganisms for the bioconversion of cellulose into
value added products has attracted a worldwide attention. Hence, the present work was aimed
to isolate new cellulase producing microorganisms and further to investigate the effect of
nutritional and process parameters on cellulase production from selected isolated culture. Out
of several cellulase producing bacterial strains isolated during the study, Bacillus
amyloliquifaciens isolate was found to be best for the production of cellulase enzyme. This
isolate was then characterized for its morphological and biochemical characters. The effect of
different parameters like carbon sources, nitrogen sources, temperature, inoculum age,
inoculums size, agitation rate and incubation period was monitored with selected strain for
cellulase production. The maximum cellulase production was recorded at 37°C at 24h. The
maximum cellulase production was recorded at inoculum size and inoculum hour at 2.5% and
24 hr, respectively. The maximum cellulase production was recorded when agitation rate 150
rpm, incubation time was 48 hr. Cellulose and Peptone at 1% each were recorded to cause the
maximum cellulase production.
