**2.6 Microbial flora of SMS**

The bacterial diversity in SMC by using molecular techniques in order to reveal the origin of SMC microflora and its potential effect on soil microbial communities after incorporation into agricultural soils [30, 34, 35]. Fifty bacterial isolates were classified into 14 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) following ARDRA-PCR of the 16S rDNA gene. Sequencing of the 16S rDNA amplicon assigned 12 of the 14 OTUs to Gram-positive bacteria, associated with the genera *Bacillus*, *Paenibacillus*, *Exiguobacterium*, *Staphylococcus*, *Desemzia*, *Carnobacterium*, *Brevibacterium*, *Arthrobacter* and *Microbacterium* of the bacterial divisions *Firmicutes* and *Actinobacteria*.

Objectives of the study.

With the background research and the literature review on spent mushroom substrate (SMS), an attempt was made to isolate, identify and characterize the microbial flora of spent mushroom substrate of *Pleurotus eous*. The research involved the followings objectives:

