Isolation and Identification of Xylanase Producing Bacteria from Soil Samples of Kerala

Abstract

Microorganisms play a very vital role in the biological recycling of plant bio-matter. Xylan is the second most plentiful polysaccharide and is found as an interface between lignin and other polysaccharide in the secondary cell wall. When these polysaccharides are hydrolyzed by a suitable strain of bacteria it will become an end to many environmental issues and had many useful applications such as in paper and pulp industry, food and feed industry, bread quality improvement, agro waste treatment, seed germination, generation of bio-fuels etc. To isolate a suitable strain of bacteria which possess good xylanase activity several samples of soils were collected from various regions of Kerala and were undergone a three step enrichment process. In the primary screening 85 bacterial strains were obtained. 22 isolates produces clear zone during plate assay using beech wood xylan. The isolates which possess more than 0.5cm clear zone were undergone final screening process and the strain PSS 1 showed the maximum enzyme activity of 112.38 U/ml.