The present study made a successful primary attempt to
enrich and isolate the potential bacterial strain from the natural
reservoirs (rotten apple and oranges) producing industrially important
pectinase enzyme. Among all, the isolate from orange (O1) showed
the maximum pectinase enzyme activity and was primarily identified
as Gram negative Cocci. The optimum culture condition for
pectinase production by isolate O1 was found to be 350C at an
alkaline pH of 8.0 with 120 rpm agitation (supporting aerobic
conditions) and 72 hours of incubation time. The elevation of enzyme
activity with addition of surfactant (Tween 80) reflects the
extracellular nature of enzyme. Thus, the present study is in good
accordance with previously reported studies [14, 16, 17, 18] and is
probably the first report of Cocci sp. producing pectinase. The study
also provides a good platform for further investigations into microbial
identification, biochemical characterization of enzyme and
optimization of culture conditions to scale up further for its
commercial implications.