Author(s): Emad El-Rayes, Ales Prokop, Rashad M. Natour and Howard D. Ratcliffe
Article publication date: 1985-03-01
Vol. 3 No. 1 (yearly), pp. 251-266.
127
Keywords
compost, microflora, fungi
Abstract
compost microflora, mostly thermophilic, isolated during various stages of composting municipal refuse in Kuwait (mainly composed of food waste and cardboard), consisted of dominant bacteria in counts of 10^4 - 10^9 g^-1, followed by actinomycetes at 10^4 - 10^8 g^-1. Among these microbial groups, some isolates were identified to the species level, some to the genus level. Based on semiquantitative test of extracellular protein accumulation, the total number of fungal isolates (21) was reduced to six prospective ones. Further screening of fungi was based on assays of cellobiase, carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase), filter paper and cotton activity, following growth on different carbon sources. A comparison was also made with other available fungi or with published date. Cellobiase and CMCase activities of some KISR strains were comparable or superior to those published, other activities were rather low.