Table 1.

Cellulolytic index of bacterial isolates at different stages of composting

Composting stages	Compost period (days)	Temperature	Bacterial isolates	Cellulolytic index (CI)	Relative CI (%)
Initial	0	33	BC1	0.8 ± 0.1	21
Thermophilic peak	4	68	2D55	3.8 ± 0.4a	100
			BD2	3.0 ± 0.1	78
			BB2	2.3 ± 0.3	60
Thermophilic	16	52	BB15	2.5 ± 0.5	65
			BB16	2.8 ± 0.1	73
			BB14	2.7 ± 0.6	71
Mesophilic	23	41	B20	2.4 ± 0.3	63
Cooling	36	33	BC22	2.1 ± 0.3	55
Stabilising	42	30	4B32	2.7 ± 0.2	71

^aCellulolytic index of isolate 2D55 was 3.8 ± 0.4; this was set at 100% and was used as the basis for calculating relative activity of other isolates