eng Oriental Scientific Publishing Company Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 0973-1245 2026-05-11 23 2 58909 article Farjeen Fatima 1 Y. Aparna 1 Department of Microbiology, Bhavan’s Vivekananda College of Science, Humanities and Commerce, Secunderabad, India Biosurfactants are environmentally friendly surface-active compounds produced by various microorganisms, including bacteria such as Bacillus spp., recognized for their versatile capabilities, have garnered attention as potential biosurfactant producers. This study aims to elucidate the biosurfactant production process from these bacterial strains, highlighting their growth conditions, strain selection, extraction, purification, characterization and potential applications. The biosurfactant exhibit superior biodegradability,low toxicity and high efficacy in reducing surface and interfacial tension compared to synthetic surfactants. Biosurfactant plays a crucial role in inhibiting biofilm formation and extracellular polymeric substances, making them promising candidates for antimicrobial and antifouling applications. Additionally, they have been explored for bioremediation, enhanced oil recovery and pharmaceutical formulations due to their emulsification and antimicrobial properties. Understanding the significance of biosurfactant producing bacteria the present study was undertaken to isolate and characterize biosurfactant producing bacteria from agricultural fields. Five isolates identified were labelled asBS1, BS2, BS3, BS4 and BS5 respectively. The isolates were evaluated for multiple biosurfactant producing properties like emulsification index, Drop collapse test, hemolytic test, C-TAB test, Oil displacement test and Anti biofilm test. The five isolates were characterized using Morphological and Biochemical characterization and found to be belonging toBacillus sps as all are endospore forming and Gram-Positive rods. Among all the tested isolates BS1 and BS4 showed good biosurfactant production compared to BS2, BS3 and BS5. https://www.biotech-asia.org/vol23no2/bioprospecting-agricultural-soils-for-isolation-and-characterization-of-biosurfactant-producing-bacteria/ Agricultural Soil Microbiota; Bioprospecting; Biosurfactant; Microbial Characterization; Surface Active Biomolecules