SCREENING FOR DIVERSE BIOPOLYMER DEGRADING MICROBES FROM VEGETABLE MARKET WASTE OF KADI

Abstract

The fruit and vegetable wastes are rich source of diverse biopolymers viz, cellulose, pectin, and xylan. Presence of such biopolymer selectively promotes the growth of microorganisms which produce the cellulase, pectinase and xylanase enzymes to degrade cellulose, pectin, and xylan respectively. These organisms have potential to be used for waste treatment and composting of organic matter rich waste including fruit and vegetable wastes. The present study was conducted for isolation and screening of cellulase, pectinase and xylanase producing microorganism from vegetable market waste of Kadi. The isolation for cellulose, pectin, and xylan degraders was carried out by enrichment followed by screening on solid medium. In the primary screening, 42 isolates were selected on basis of zone hydrolysis ratio. Among these, 34 Mesophilic bacterial isolates, 4 thermo-tolerant bacterial isolates and 4 fungal isolates were there. For all the selected isolates, the zone ratio for cellulose degraders was in range of 1.42 to 7. The zone ratio of pectin degraders was in range of 1.33 to 9.33. The zone ratio for xylan degraders was in range of 1.2 to 9. The total of 9 isolates showed good degradation potential for all the three polymers tested and also seem promising for further studies.