Microbial and physico-chemical analyses of soil receiving cassava mill waste water in Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

The microbiological and physico-chemical characteristics of soil receiving cassava mill waste water in five different cassava processing mill sites in Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria, were assessed. The mean bacterial counts of the assessed soil ranged from 3.72±4.51×10⁵ cfu/g to 5.77±6.11 ×10⁵ cfu/g for contaminated soil and 6.10±4.36×10⁵ cfu/g to 8.79±4.51×10⁵ cfu/g for pristine soil. The mean fungal counts ranged from 6.67±1.16×10³ cfu/g to 11.00±1.00×10³ cfu/g for the contaminated soil and 11.00±0.21×10³ cfu/g to 17.33±1.01 x10³ cfu/g for the pristine soil. The microorganisms isolated include; Klebsiella spp., Proteus spp., Bacillus spp., Escherichia coli, Enterobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas spp., Streptococcus spp., Micrococcus spp., Aspergillus spp., Rhizopus spp., Penicillium spp., yeast, Mucor spp. and Fusarium spp. The physicochemical parameters assessed had different ranges for the contaminated soil samples and the control. The study thus reveals that the cassava mill effluent has some deleterious effects on soil structure, soil microbiota, and soil quality, and hence recommends that appropriate measures be put in place to enforce and regulate the treatment of such effluents prior to discharge to receiving soil and/or water bodies.

Keywords: Microbial, Physicochemical, analyses, soil, cassava, waste water