Science and Education Publishing Journal of Applied & Environmental Microbiology 1 1 2013 12 08 Microbial Decolorization of the Azo Dye Methyl Red by Enterobacter spp. ETL-1979 1 5 EN Maulin P Shah Industrial Waste Water Research Laboratory, Applied & Environmental Microbiology Lab, Enviro Technology Limited (CETP), GIDC, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, India Kavita A Patel Sunu S Nair A M Darji JAEM2013111 10.12691/jaem-1-1-1 2013 09 26 2013 11 27 2013 12 08 Bacterial isolates, obtained from dye-contaminated sludge, decolorized the toxic azo dye methyl red (MR). Enterobacter spp. ETL-1979 was selected because of its better abilities to completely decolorize MR under aerobic conditions. Effects of physicochemical parameters (temperature, stirring, concentration of glucose and pH of the synthetic medium) on the MR decolorization by the selected bacterium were studied. Under optimal conditions, Enterobacter spp. ETL-1979 completely decolorized 100 mg/l of MR within 6 h of incubation in synthetic medium. The high MR decolorization ability and low nutrient and environmental requirements of Enterobacter spp. ETL-1979 enable this bacterium to be used in the biological treatment of industrial effluent containing azo dyes.