The residual oil at the end of the incubation period was analyzed
quantitatively using gas chromatography analysis (data not shown).
The chromatograms appear as a number of peaks which represent
the different compounds of diesel oil. GC chromatogram clearly
shows reduction in the intensity of the diesel oil peaks after 15 days
of incubation in flask with B. amyloliquefaciens An6 when compared
with control diesel oil, which was taken as 100%. The decrease in
peak areas reflects a reduction in the GC-detectable hydrocarbons.
It must be noted that any reduction in the GC resolvable between
the control and each inoculated sample is caused by biodegradation
because any loss by non-biological processes would affect the
control sample to the same extent as the inoculated samples