Diversity and Characteristics of Kenaf Bast Degumming Microbial Resources

Kenaf is one of the most important natural fiber crops. Traditional degumming with water retting causes serious environmental pollution and reduces the quality of fiber products. The development of kenaf industry is hindered by high production cost. Microbial degumming is suitable for kenaf bast degumming because of its high efficiency, energy conservation, low pollution, and high quality, among others. Through enrichment and screening from water sample, soil sample, and humus sample, we concentrated and identified 92 bacterial strains that could degrade kenaf bast colloid. The strains belonged to 11 genera and 16 species. Five of these strains did not produce cellulase and the weight loss rate of the kenaf bast fiber raw material was more than 20%. These strains belonged to Bacillus subtilis, Paenibacillus polymyxa, Clostridium acetobutylicum, Bacillus alcalophilus, and Erwinia chrysanthemi and were assigned with serial numbers from K1-K5, respectively. This study is the first to report the function of Bacillus pumilus, B. alcalophilus, Clostridium tertium, Brevibacillus brevis, Pectobacterium carotovora, E. chrysanthemi, and Tyromyces subcaesius in kenaf bast degumming. Pectinase and mannanase were the key enzymes in the degumming of kenaf bast.