Screening of Cellulolytic Bacteria from Biological Education and Research Forest Floor Andalas University, Indonesia

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Organic waste dump is a problem that needs to be solved, one of which is by using microbe. Cellulolytic bacteria's ability to produce cellulase enzymes that can hydrolyze cellulose. Cellulose is the major component of the plant cell walls that are difficult to endure degradation naturally. This study aimed to find cellulolytic bacterial isolates on Biological Education and Research Forest floor Andalas University and characterize the cellulolytic bacteria found. Material and Methods: CMC (Carboxymethyl Cellulose) medium is used as a screening for bacteria isolate and this study used the survey method and also conducted catalase, glucose and lactose test for characterizations. <b>Results:</b> We found 16 bacterial isolates on Biological Education and Research Forest floor where 9 isolates were in a shaded area and 7 isolates were in an unshaded area. There were 12 isolates from 16 isolates that have the positive cellulolytic ability with a variety of clear zone sizes, where there were 8 isolates with the large clear zone and 4 isolates producing very small clear zones. Characteristics of bacterial isolates with the large clear zone obtained were 2 gram-positive coccus isolates with positive catalase test, 3 gram-negative coccus isolates with positive glucose test and 3 gram-negative bacilli isolates with negative fructose test. <b>Conclusion:</b> We identified 2 potential isolates with a cellulolytic index value greater than 2, isolate UCB 4 with a cellulolytic index value of 3.5 and UCB 6 with a cellulolytic index value of 2.2.