Isolation of actinomycetes from various soil samples of Ranchi district (Jharkhand) and studies on their antimicrobial activities.

In an effort to study prevalence of antibiotic producing actinomycetes a total of 21 actiomycetes were isolated from 42 soil samples collected from Ranchi District (Jharkhand). These isolates were studied for their cultural, morphological and antagonistic behaviour towards bacteria, yeast and fungi including E. coli, S. aureus, S. typhi, A. niger MTCC 281, A. fumigatus MTCC 3002, S. cerevisiae MTCC 36, R. eutropa MTCC 1285. Cultural characteristics and microscopic features revealed that most of the isolates belonged to genus Streptomyces. Among the test actinomycetes, 12 isolates were found positive for complete or partial inhibition of at least one or more test microorganism. Isolate SD 9 completely inhibited E. coli, S. aureus and S. cerevisiae MTCC 36 while S. typhi was partially inhibited.