Screening And Isolation Of Thermophilic Cellulolytic Bacteria From Cocoa Pod And Cassava Peel Dumpsites In Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Thermophilic cellulase producing bacteria were isolated from the heap of decaying cassava peels and cocoa pods in Ile-Ife, Southwest, Nigeria. Out of the fifteen thermophilic bacterial isolates - thirteen of which were from cassava peels and two from cocoa pods - only three (2NA3, Ca3 and Co4) hydrolyzed carboxymethyl cellulose with the hydrolytic capacity value between 2.3 and 3.5 at 60^o C. The three cellulolytic isolates were identified as Bacillus brevis 2NA3, Bacillus coagulans Ca3 from cassava peels and Bacillus coagulans Co4 from cocoa pods. B. brevis and B. coagulans Co4 were selected for further study. Cellulase production occurred within the exponential growth phase of the bacteria which was observed to be at 20 hours for both B. brevis and B. coagulans Co4. However, Bacillus coagulans Co4 showed a higher cellulase activity of 30 units/ml. The thermostable cellulase from B. coagulans Co4 isolated from cocoa pod could be of great importance in biofuel industry for the saccharification of lignocellulosics into economically useful monosaccharides.

Keywords: Isolation, Cellulolytic Bacteria, Cocoa Pod, Cassava Peel, Growth Curve