Tanning industry is one of the large-scaled industry in India which generals high turbid, colour and foul smelling wastewater together with toxic heavy metals including chromium and thus leading to environmental pollution. The present investigation emphasise the need of biological treatment of tannery effluent as an alternative a cost-efficient and eco-friendly approach for the efficient removal of chromium toxicity. In the present study a total of eight bacterial (4 gram positive and 4 gram negative) were isolated and the chromium resistance of the same was determined. Gram positive bacteria exhibited higher chromium tolerance than Gram negative bacteria whereas Bacillus and Staphylococcus, as Gram positive bacteria exhibited the higher chromium tolerance. The biosorption of Cr (VI) by these isolates revealed that the isolate Bacillus adsorbed the chromium ions to a higher level than Staphylococcus strains and the pH and temperature plays a vital role in biosorption of Cr (VI). It is concluded that the biological treatment of tannery wastewater together with chromium resistant bacterial strains will be a cost-effective, eco-friendly, alternative approach for the bioremediation of chromium in heavy metal.
