Résumé
Aim: To investigate the reduction of lignin content in jute (Corchorus spp. L.) with promising lignin degrading bacterial isolates.Methodology: Promising lignin degrading bacterial isolates were screened on the basis of potency index, MnP (manganese peroxidase) and LiP (lignin peroxidase) activities. Very efficient ligninolytic isolates were used for laboratory scale delignification trial and the resultant fibre was tested for lignin content, fibre strength and fineness. The efficient isolates were identified up to species level with Biolog Inc. based on the metabolic fingerprinting of the isolates. Results: Out of 95 ligninolytic bactetial isolates, twenty isolates having potency index >1.10 on the basis of Azure-B dye degradation test were selected for enzyme assays. Five promising isolates (L3, L9, L10, L26 and L30) were selected for delignification trial on the basis of high MnP (126 – 482 U l-1 min-1), and LiP (558.7 – 615.6 U l-1 min-1) activities. The isolate L9 performed best among the five isolates and could reduce lignin content from 11.33 to 8.84% i.e. a reduction of 21.97% from the control. All the five isolates were identified as Bacillus spp. Interpretation: Delignification of jute by using lignin degrading bacteria without any environmental hazard may be considered as an alternate method of chemical delignification for minimization of environmental pollution