Table 1.

Bacterial strains used

Species	Total no. of strains	Source	Accession number of sediment isolates
Bacillus subtilis	14	ATCC 11,774, ATCC 6,051 and 12 pond sediment	GQ214130, GQ21413 HQ388810–HQ388813 JX438679–JX438684
Bacillus cereus	10	ATCC 13,061 and 9 pond sediment	GQ214131 HQ388814–HQ388817 JX438685–JX438788
Bacillus pumilus	6	ATCC 14,884 and 5 pond sediment	HQ388808 JX438694–JX438697
Bacillus megaterium	1	ATCC 9,885
Bacillus thuringiensis	1	ATCC 10,792
Bacillus licheniformis	1	ATCC 13,061
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens	2	Pond sediment	JX438692–JX438693

Pond sediment isolates were confirmed by 16s rDNA sequencing