Isolation and biochemical identification of cellulase bacteria from spoiled orange

Cellulase bacteria from spoiled orange

Abstract

Cellulose is the most liberal biomass and most common agricultural waste on earth. It is a polymer chain of glucose units connected by β-1, 4 linkages. Cellulose waste is a giant renewable bioresource produced by the photosynthetic process. It has a high noumenon for bioconversion to important bioproducts such as ethanol. One of the requirements of the biological conversion of lignocellulosic wastes into industrial products is the use of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes. Cellulolytic bacteria have been isolated and screened from spoiled orange using Carboxy methyl cellulose agar (CMC).
Result; Production of clear zones by the bacterial isolates on CMC agar medium supplemented with 1% grams, iodine was considered as indicative of extracellular cellulase activity. The size of transparent zone diameter is considered as proportional to the level of cellulase production. The serial dilution method was employed. A total number of 5 samples of spoilt orange fruit (Citrus sinensis) were examined by culturing them on nutrient agar and CMC media, the bacterial isolates were Enterobacter spp. (28.9%) which had the highest occurrence, Escherichia coli (28.6%), Staphylococcus aureus (22.9%) and Pseudomonas spp. (19.6%) which had the least occurrence. The fungal isolates obtained were Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium spp. The fungal and bacterial loads were high enough to cause food spoilage or food infection. The presence of the isolates may be due to improper hygienic practices from the point of harvesting, transportation and storage by handlers.
Conclusion; Above all, the high moisture content of orange fruit (Citrus sinensis) makes it highly perishable as it supports the growth of microorganisms.