3.1 Degradation of PLA film by compost isolates A simple and quick way to measure the bio degradation of polymers is by determining the weight loss. In order to determine the effect of compost isolates on degradation, the remaining pieces of PLA films were recovered from the culture broth and dried to record weight. Significant difference in dry weight of the PLA film before (on day 1) and after (25 days) degradation was observed (Table 1). The weight loss of PLA film was found to vary from 10% to 45.5% with different isolates indicating the effect of compost isolates on the degradation of PLA. Isolates which showed high percentage weight loss of PLA film were MS- 1 (25%), MS-2 (45.5%) and MS-3 (27.8%). However, the control samples showed no trace of weight loss. The weight loss after incubation may be purely because of microbial activity.
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