Isolation and identification of citrus-juice-residue composting bacteria

Microbial analysis was carried out on citrus-juice-residue compost. Microfl ora of the compost was composed of bacteria only and no other microorganism from the compost fermented at 60 degrees C. Twelve meso-thermophilic bacte rial strains were isolated and identified from the compost. Nine bacterial strains of them were identified as Bacillus stearothermophilus, two were Th ermus and one was Thermoactinomyces. To reveal whether the identified bacte rial strains belonged to the residential microflora of composting or not, i solated strains tested by growth on the residue medium and the digestive ca pability of the residue. From the results, it was confirmed that the compos ting microflora composed of the isolated strains which were dominant strain s of the composting. It, therefore, is possible to convert citrus-juice-res idue to compost by using present isolates.