PRODUCTION OF CELLULASE USING MESOPHILIC BACTERIA

ABSTRACT

Environmental waste is a very important factor in promoting general health of a place, eliminating this waste in a timely and efficient manner translates to reduce risks of exposure to environmental contaminants. This study researched the production of cellulase using common environmental waste as fermentation substrates. This study used mesophilic bacteria to bioconvert agrowaste to cellulase.the mesophilic organisms of interest were isolated from a dumpsite in Isihor Benin city,plated using pour plate method and identified using sugar fermentation and colonial characteristics. The purified isolates were tested for cellulase activity and the highest producer was used for further investigation .The standardized organism (serratia marscescens) was inoculated into each waste medium and kept at standard room temperature 280 ±2 0 c over the period of 10 days .pH, viable cell count and cellulase concentration was determined using DNS(3,5, dinitrosalicylic acid) method. The highest cellulase concentration was recorded on day 8 with corncob waste medium ,while pH was 7.55±0.07 and viable cell count was 2.770±0.014 cfu/ml,while the least was obtained with pineapple medium on day 8, pH was 5.75±0.21 and viable cell count was 0.230±0.014 cfu/ml. Research on this study suggests that corncob is the best substrate for cellulase production using Serratia marcescens . Therefore environmental contamination constituted by agro waste can now be salvaged by the bio conversion of agro waste into cellulase.