10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 2 Issue 2 2011 (April - June) A total of 10 chitinolytic bacteria were isolated from 35 soil samples collected from different crop fields in Tamilnadu state, India. Among them, a strain designated as VMCH2 which produced highest chitinolytic activity in primary and secondary screening in colloidal chitin agar was selected and later identified as lessThan i greaterThan Sterptomyces hygroscopicus lessThan /i greaterThan . The maximum chitinase production was observed in CCMB amended with 0.2% colloidal chitin at pH 7.0 and 35° C after 8 days of incubation. Under this optimized growth conditions, Streptomyces hygroscopicus - VMCH2 produced a total chitinase activity of 28. 09 units / ml against only 9.36 units / ml in the initial production medium stage. Priya C. S.,Jagannathan N. And Kalaichelvan P. T. Streptomyces hygroscopicus, chitinolytic bacteria, chitinase cultural conditions. 210-219