With a view to improve the mechanical properties of Acinetobacter junii CN1 PHB, it was copolymerized with commercial PHV. The copolymerized PHBV when subjected to soil burial assay a total of 6 PHBV degrading bacterial strains (S1- S6) were isolated not only from the soil in which the PHBV was buried but also from the surface of the degraded PHBV membrane. Further, the PHBV degrading bacterial strains of the present investigation were identified as Bacillus, Bifidobacterium1, Bifidobacterium 2, Corneybacterium, Bifidobacterium 3 and Alcaligenes faecalis respectively. On screening the six bacterial isolates, the maximum zone of clearance was reported with Alcaligens faecalis which also showed the highest level of activity for both the esterase (0.27 U/ml) and depolymerase (0.28 U/ml). While determining the degradation of PHBV at different temperatures (30, 37, 45, 50 & 55 °C), the results revealed the better degradation of PHBV at 30 °C and 50 °C for esterase and depolymerase respectively. However, the pH optima for both the PHBV depolymerase and esterase of A.faecalis were found to be 7 and 8 respectively.
