Morphological and biochemical characteristics of bacterial isolates degrading crude oil

A mixed bacterial culture developed by soil enrichment procedure using crude oil as a substrate was screened for individual bacterial species. Studies on morphological and biochemical characterization of eleven dominant bacterial isolates revealed that most of the cultures were gram-negative motile rods, and were catalase and oxidase positive. It was observed that four bacterial isolates were efficient in degrading pure hydrocarbons, 'model petroleum' and crude oil. Identification of dominant bacterial cultures confirmed the isolates as Pseudomonas stutzeri, Pseudomonas aeruginoss, Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas fluorescens.