Bacillus licheniformis was grown for 48 h at 37 degrees C in solid state fermentation; a maximum of 1.7 x 10(11) spores/g dry substrate were obtained using rice straw powder (300 g/kg) and wheat bran (700 g/kg) supplemented with glucose (40 g/kg), peptone (20 g/kg), yeast extract (20 g/kg), KH2PO4 (10 g/kg) and CaO (5 g/kg) with an initial moisture content of 65%.