Poly-b-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is polymer from microbial origin are considered good substitute for plastics and isomers. Since in properties they are similar to petrochemical plastics, yet are truly biodegradable. The two potential bacteria Alcaligenes eutrophus and Rhizobium meliloti PHB production ability were analyzed using molasses as substrate at various concentrations in the fermentative medium (10%, 20%, 30% and 40%). Among this study maximum PHB was noted in high concentration of molasses (40%) in both bacteria, compared with Rhizobium meliloti and Alcaligenes eutrophus produce high amount of PHB in 40%. Alcaligenes eutrophus were optimized for two different carbon source (Sucrose and Maltose), nitrogen source (Ammonium chloride and Sodium nitrate) and various pH (5, 6, 7, 8 and 9). Among this maximum PHB was accumulated in maltose as carbon source, ammonium chloride as nitrogen source and 7 as pH. Thus the use of petroleum derived plastics can be minimized and by which we can live in a plastic pollution free earth.
Alcaligenes eutrophus, Rhizobium meliloti, Poly-b-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), Biopolymer, Molasses
© The Author(s) 2009. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.