A study on biodegradation of coir pith using microbial consortium

Abstract

In the present study attempt was made to biodegrade coir pith using suitable microbes and their consortium, isolated from the naturally decayed coir pith, From the total colony forming units isolated from old coir pith, seven bacterial and five fungal strains which showed predominant growth were selected and independently screened for predecomposition of water washed coir pith for a period of 30 days. Pleurotus sajor caju was also tested for predecomposition of coir pith. Based on the predigestion characteristics, two microbes i-e Isolate-6 (bacteria, Pseudomonas spp) and Isolate-8 (fungi, Aspergilus niger) were selected. The two selected isolates and Pleurotus sajor caju were mixed with each other into four types of microbial consortia and were used for predecomposition (30 days).