“…The CMC agar comprising (g/L) CMC (SigmaAldrich, Germany), 5; NaNO 3 (Lab M, India), 1; K 2 HPO 4 (Applichem, Germany), 1; KCl (Lab M, UK), 1; MgSO 4 (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany), 0.5; yeast extract (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany), 0.5; glucose (Oxoid, UK), 1 and Agar (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany), 17) was prepared by dissolving the ingredients in 1 L distilled water. The mixture was heated to a boil to homogenize the sample and sterilized in an autoclave at 121 After 48 h of incubation, each of the duplicate plates was screened for cellulase activity by flooding the plates with 0.1% Congo red (SigmaAldrich, Germany) solution and left undisturbed for 15-20 min and then destained with 1 M NaCl (Oxoid, UK) [21]. Halo zones around the growing cellulolytic bacteria confirmed positive isolates.…”