• V. Karthi
• A. Ram kumar
• R. Ramesh
• A. Stephen
• S. Kumaresan

Cellulose is the major component of plant biomass and most abundant biomass on the earth. Cellulase is an enzyme used for the bioconversion of cellulosic and lignocellulosic residues. Cellulase is used for commercial food processing in coffee and also used in textile industry and in laundry detergents as well as pulp and paper industry for various purposes. Traditionally, majority of studied are focused on fungi, lesser importance given to bacterial sources. To fill this lacuna, we have collected different soil samples from different sites in the reserve forests of Western Ghats of Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu, India. Totally 154 bacterial strains were isolated from the soil samples. Based on the clear zones formation on the xylan red-agar medium only 3 bacterial strains were selected for the further studies and they were identified based on the 16S rRNA sequence. Solid state and submerged fermentations were done to identify strains that could produce cellulase. Bacillus subtilis (strain 2) produced maximum cellulase production, 5.02 IU/ml and 2.21 U/ml in solid state and submerged fermentations, respectively. All the strains produced cellulase during solid state as well as, submerged fermentation.

Bacillus, Cellulase, Solid state fermentation, Submerged fermentation, Western Ghats.

"Isolation, Identification and Optimization of Cellulase Producing Bacteria from Forests of Western Ghats, India", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no.240-247, April-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904J33.pdf

"Isolation, Identification and Optimization of Cellulase Producing Bacteria from Forests of Western Ghats, India", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no. pp240-247, April-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904J33.pdf