Isolation and screening of soil bacteria with the potential to produce antibiotics

Abstract

Antibiotics are one of the most important commercially exploited secondary metabolites produced by bacteria and employed in a wide range. Soil samples were collected from five different locations in the school compound of Federal University Of Technology Minna, Niger State (Bosso campus). The total viable bacterial counts ranged from 2.11 x 105 - 4.45 x 105 cfu/ml. The bacterial isolates were identified as Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus polymxa and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus polymxa having the same frequency of occurrence of 30% while Bacillus licheniformis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa having the same freguency of 20%. The bacteria isolates were then screened for the potential to produce antibiotics. The bacteria isolated shows zone of inhibition on Staphylococcus auereus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella sp. and Pseudornonas aeruginosa, which suggest the evidence of antibiotics produced by those isolates from the soil.