Results and Discussion
Soil pH
The pH value was 6.3 for the sample near
the effluent pipe and 6.8 for the sample near
the lake.
Isolation and phenotypic characterization
of actinomycetes
One strain was isolated from each of the two
soil samples and they were named as isolate
1 (I1) from the soil sample collected near the
effluent pipe and isolate 2 (I2) from the soil
sample collected near the lake. The
characteristics of both the isolates are
presented in table 1. Both the isolated strains
were Gram positive. The colour of the
substrate mycelium was white for I1 and
gray for I2. No pigment on the reverse side
or melanoid pigment was produced by
isolate I1 whereas isolate I2 generated
colored pigment on reverse side and but it
was negative for melanoid pigment. On
examination under microscope, isolate I1
exhibited spira spore chain morphology and
isolate I2 showed retinaculum spore chain.
Spore surface morphology was studied
under the scanning electron microscope
(SEM) at different magnifications of 500,
3000, 10,000 and 20,000. Isolate I1 showed
a smooth surface while isolate I2 exhibited
spiny surface.