Screening and identification of amylase producing strains of Bacillus

An attempt was made to isolate and screen efficient amylolytic strains of Bacillus sp. Initial screening basedon the starch hydrolysis ratio resulted in the selection of 72 amylolytic bacterial strains. Among these, 18strains were selected for further studies. Secondary screening based on amylase production in starch brothmedium led to the selection of six amylolytic strains of Bacillus sp. The selected strains were grown in fourdifferent fermentation media (FMI-FMIV) in order to screen for three most efficient amylolytic strains foroptimization and characterization. FMIV was the best basal medium as it provided required nutrients, whichstimulated highest amylase production in bacterial strains within shortest incubation time ( 24 hours). Molecularidentification based on 16S rDNA sequence revealed that three most efficient strains [BCM36 (KR1), BCM33(KR2), and BCM25 (KR3)] belonged to Bacillus sp