Single-stage inocula are reported in most laboratory-scale studies of the production of alpha-amylase by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, commonly used at art age of about 24 h but with some variation. The preparation of the inoculum does not, however, seem to have received a great deal of critical attention. In this preliminary study, one-stage and two-stage inocula were compared, over a range of ages, using complex media and a commercial strain of the organism Significantly better results were obtained using two stages. The highest amylase yields were obtained by transferring the first stage inoculum at art age of 28 h then the second stage at only 6 h. With this two-stage inoculum, the peak yield in the subsequent production stage averaged about 4,000 SKB units ml(-1) which was 21% higher than the peak with a one-stage inoculum. Further work would be needed to optimize the procedure but these results clearly show that two-stage inocula can be beneficial in this fermentation.