Isolation And Identification Of cellulose Degrading Microorganism From Sawdust In Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The isolation and identification of cellulose degrading microorganism from sawdust in Umuahia Ahia State was carried out. The media used in were nutrient agar, for total aerobic plate count, Sabouraud dextrose agar for fungal count, MacConkey agar for coliform count and cellulolytic medium for cellulolytic count. The pour plate technique was employed. Colonial Morphology, Gram staining and biochemical tests were used for the identification of the microorganisms.The microbial count ranged as follows, Total aerobic plate count,4.8x10cfu/g - 2.31x10'cfu/g; Coliform count,1.9x10cfu/g - 7.8x10cfu/g; Fungal count, 2.7x10cfu/g -4.5x10° and cellulolytic count, 2.5x10cfu/g4.5x10cfu/g. The bacteria isolated were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus species, Klebsie//a species, Escherichia coli, Micrococcus species, Staphylococcus aureus and Cellulomonas species while the fungi isolated were Penicillium species, Aspergillus species, Mucor species, Fusarium species and Rhizopus species. It shows that sawdust is contaminated