Screening and Isolation of Effective Microbes for Decomposition Process among Different Organic Waste

Abstract

Organic waste is material that is biodegradable and comes from either plant or animal. It can be decomposed over time by microbes into methane, carbon dioxide, water, and other simple organic molecules. Microorganism especially bacteria and fungus are able to decompose cellulose by an enzyme known as cellulase. Since plants are made up from cellulose, this study is focused on isolating and identifying the microbes that are responsible in decomposing the organic waste by screening for the microorganisms that are able to produce cellulose enzyme. In this experiment, the bacteria were isolated from three different samples, which are; compost product, decayed wood and empty fruit bunch mix with oil palm frond. The samples were collected from the fresh decomposing organic waste. The samples undergo serial dilution, screening the ability of the microorganism to solubilize phosphate by using National Botanical Research Institute’s Phosphate media (NBRIP) and screening the ability of the microorganism to produce cellulose enzyme by using Carboxymethyl Cellulose Media (CMC) treated with Congo Red and NaCl for confirmation of the targeted effective microbes. The result shows that the targeted effective microbes will produce the halo zone or clear zone formation after being treated with Red Congo and NaCl solution on CMC media and producing a halo zone on NBRIP media. In this experiment, we manage to isolate and identify the bacteria that is responsible in producing cellulase enzyme and solubilizing phosphate that is known as Streptomyces sanglieri. Application of effective microbes will promote the plant uptake due to its ability in converting the nutrient into available form to the plant.