Evaluation of Microbial Load and Physicochemical Characteristics of Soils in Electronic Waste Dumpsites of Oluku and Osasogie in Benin, Edo State and Alaba in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the microbial load and physicochemical characteristics of soils in electronic waste dumpsites of Oluku and Osasogie in Benin, Edo State and Alaba in Lagos State Nigeria using appropriate standard procedures. Data obtained show that the total bacterial count was not significantly different across the sites, the mean bacterial counts on Nutrient agar (NA) ranges between 9.00±2.646 cfu/g and 5.33±1.202 cfu/g, the former is for Oluku while the latter is for Osasogie respectively and are not significantly different across the four locations while the fungal counts showed a significant difference. The highest fungal count recorded in the control site (10.67±1.764 cfu/g) and the lowest count (3.33 ±0.882 cfu/g) was recorded at Alaba. Bacterial and fungal species isolated includes, Bacillus sp., Clostridium sp., Pseudomonas sp., Yersinia sp. , Serratia marcescens, Klebsiella sp., Providencia sp, Aspergillus sp., Geotrichum sp., Rhizopus sp., and Penicillium sp. respectively, Most of these isolated organisms are those microorganisms known to possess the capacity to biodegrade e-waste. The mean available phosphorous (19.04±0.147) and total nitrogen (6.263±0.049) shows a significant difference in the control soil compared to the three e-waste soil samples. These significant difference in available phosphorus and nitrogen between the control and the three e-waste soil samples shows that, e-waste negatively affects soil fertility, as phosphorous and nitrogen are the major elements that determine soil fertility.