Studies on the Production of Cellulase enzyme by Soil isolated bacterium BT Strain 3.

Original Research | 2026 | Volume 3 | Issue 2 | Page 28-49

Bittu Kumar, M.Sc. Biotechnology, Department of Biotechnology, Batch 2024-2026, Mahatma Gandhi Central University Motihari, Bihar, India

Studies on the Production of Cellulase enzyme by Soil isolated bacterium BT Strain 3

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Abstract

The carbon cycle and many other industries are heavily impacted by how fast cellulose biodegrades because cellulose is an abundant natural polymer. The objective of this research was to isolate, screen, produce and optimize the production of cellulase from soil bacteria as well as determine the effect of copper nanoparticles on production of cellulase. Soil samples were collected from the university's garden and subjected to serial dilution up to 10-11 to isolate bacterial colonies on nutrient agar plates. Pure cultures were obtained from repeated streaking of the same bacteria and grown in LB broth until they were ready to be evaluated for bacterial growth and grow to produce cellulase. The bacteria were grown in LB broth and activated in LB broth prior to mediating the production of cellulase by growing in liquid medium containing carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as the substrate. The samples were incubated with shaking at a temperature of 37°C for 24 hours. Crude enzyme was then extracted and screened for the ability to hydrolyze CMC using a Congo redbased zone of hydrolysis assay on CMC agar plates. It can be concluded that BT strain 3 had the largest hydrolysis zone, which was 3 cm, indicating that the bacterium is capable of effectively producing cellulase enzymes. It was found that the bacterial growth occurs when there is optimization of the condition. The optimum substrate concentration (1%) and optimum pH (pH 7) lead to the maximum cellulase enzyme production. In terms of how the enzyme production is affected by the fermentation period, it was found that the enzyme production increases when the fermentation period becomes optimized. The effect of copper nanoparticles was also studied, and it was found that there was an increase in the enzyme activity with the addition of 5 µL of nanoparticle concentration. The findings of this experiment indicate that soil bacteria can effectively produce cellulase enzymes through optimization. Keywords: Cellulase, Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Soil bacteria, Hydrolysis zone, Bacterial screening, Enzyme optimization, Copper nanoparticles, Fermentation, Biodegradation, Fermentation