Understanding the relationship between microbial community and mechanism of aerobic granulation could enable wider applications of granules for high-strength wastewater treatment. The majority of granulation studies principally determine the engineering aspects of granules formation with little emphasis on the microbial diversity. In this study, three identical reactors namely R1, R2 and R3 were operated using POME at volumetric loadings of 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 kg COD m(-3) d(-1), respectively. Aeration was provided at a volumetric flow rate of 2.5 cm s(-1). Aerobic granules were successfully developed in R2 and R3 while bioflocs dominated R1 until the end of experiments. Fractal dimension (D-f) averaged at 1.90 suggesting good compactness of granules. The PCR-DGGE results indicated microbial evolutionary shift throughout granulation despite different operating OLRs based on decreased Raup and Crick similarity indices upon mature granule formation. The characteristics of aerobic granules treating high strength agro-based wastewater are determined at different volumetric loadings. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.