Enumeration, isolation and identification of bacteria and fungi from soil contaminated with petroleum products using layer chicken droppings as an amendment

Abstract

Enumeration, isolation and identification of bacteria and fungi from soil contaminated with petroleum products using layer chicken droppings as an amendment The media used were nutrient agar for total heterotrophic bacterial count, potato dextrose agar for fungi count, serial dilution was carried out and the pour plate technique was employed. Colonial morphology, Gram staining and biochemical test were used for the identification and characterization of the microorganisms. The microbial count of the layer chicken droppings had a total heterotrophic bacteria count of 1.32 x 10⁷ cfu/g and Fungi count of 2.07 x 10⁶ cfu/g while soil contaminated with petroleum products had a total heterotrophic bacteria count of 3.19 x 10⁶ cfu/g and fungi count of 3.9 x 10⁵ cfu/g respectively. The bacterial general isolated were Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pseudomonas and Escherichia coli. The fungi isolated were Mucor species, Aspergillus species, Penicillium species and Fusarium species in significant numbers throughout the period of analysis.  The implications of these finding is that the microorganisms isolates found in these layer chicken dropping can be useful in the bioremediation of soil contaminated with petroleum products and possibly other oil polluted sites.

Key words: Bioremediation, Chicken droppings, Petroleum, contaminated soil