Qualitative and quantitative assessment of cellulolytic enzyme production in the microbial isolates from environmental samples

Abstract

The biological treatment of lignocellulosic biomass through enzymatic hydrolysis serves as an ecofriendly and cost efficient method. As these biomass is the most abundant renewable resource which lacks proper utilization and disposal. This study was conducted to isolate and screen the presence of cellulosic enzymes from the microbes of natural ecosystem under laboratory condition. The microbes were isolated from elephant dung, forest soil, termites (gut) collected from Anaikatty forest range of Coimbatore district. Microbes were screened qualitatively and quantitatively for the presence of endoglucanase, exoglucanase, β-glucosidase enzymes. Among the total microbes recovered, one bacteria (BT4), one action bacteria (AS3)and two fungal isolates(FE5,FE6)showed maximum cellulolytic efficiency during qualitative screening, those were further subjected for quantitative estimation of endoglucanase, exoglucanase, β-glucosidase activity.