Isolation and Screening of Biosurfactant Producing Bacteria from Environmental Soil Samples of Rajkot Region

Biosurfactants are valued microbial amphiphilic molecules with effective reducing surface tension & emulsification activity. Form the petrol & crude contaminated environmental soil sample, isolation and screening of Biosurfactant producing bacteria is done. Emulsification index, haemolytic activity and CTAB agar plate methods were used to screen the capability of isolates for producing Biosurfactant. Studies were also carried out using diesel, petrol, kerosene and engine oil as hydrocarbon source. Results of the present study suggested that these isolates have potential to use in oil degradation studies. The future aspects of this study will be to proceed further the biochemical and molecular characterization of potent isolates, to investigate and define the purification and characterization strategy of biosurfactant and to establish an optimized medium based on agro-industrial waste for scale up operations.