ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF CELLULOSE DEGRADING BACTERIA FROM SUGARCANE (<i>SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM</i> L.) BAGASSE IN CAN THO

Bagasse, which is primarily composed of cellulose, is an abundant by-product of the sugarcane processing industry. Bagasse can cause environmental pollution if not properly treated. This study aims to isolate cellulose-degrading bacteria from sugarcane bagasse and investigate their ability to decompose bagasse. Thirty bacterial strains were isolated on a carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) medium from 14 sugarcane bagasse samples. The evaluation of the ability to degrade CMC substrates revealed that CMC degradation rings of isolated strains ranged from 1.333 to 7.600 mm. Five bacterial strains, 7B1, 8A2, 10A1, 11A1, and 11B1, exhibited large degradation rings. These five bacterial strains were further tested for their ability to degrade pulp substrates on agar medium, and three of them, 11A1, 7B1, and 11B1, exhibited the largest degradation rings of 7.467 mm, 7.067 mm, and 7.067 mm, respectively. The ability of bacterial strains 11A1, 7B1, and 11B1 to decompose bagasse was also tested, and after 7 days, the percentage of bagasse weight loss reached 27.00%, with bacterial strain 7B1 demonstrating a particularly strong ability to decompose bagasse at 28.87%. The 16S rDNA sequencing results revealed that strain 7B1 is 98.00% similar to Pseudomonas monteilii and Pseudomonas plecoglossicida. The high cellulose degradation ability of bacteria has potential applications in further practical study.