Isolation and Characterization of Hydrocarbon-Degrading Fungi from Ruminant Dung and Poultry Dropping-Impacted Soils

Abstract: Hydrocarbon pollution of the environment due to oil spilled has been a major environmental problem in Nigeria in the recent past. The need to continuously seek to find consortium of organisms that will be used to remediate the oil contaminated environment is on the increase. The study assayed oil-degrading potential of fungi isolated from cow dung, goat dung and poultry dung contaminated soils. The samples were collected aseptically from nine different locations with no history of crude oil pollution in Lokoja metropolis. These samples were analyzed for fungal loads and oil-degrading fungi using potato dextrose agar (PDA) and mineral salt agar (MSA) respectively. The biodegradation of engine oil was observed for a period of fourteen days on PDA and MSA respectively. The fungi were identified based on the microscopic and macroscopic features of the hyphal mass, nature of the fruiting bodies and the morphology of cells and spores using standard charts. The fungi identified from the contaminated soil include Aspergillus fumigatus, Rhizopus stolonifer. and Mucor ramosissimus. All fungi showed degradation of the crude oil, with Aspergillus fumigates demonstrating the best degradation ability. The result obtained revealed that oil-degrading fungi can be isolated from cow, goat and poultry dung soils and they are competent mycoflora for the biodegradation of crude oil polluted soils. They can thus be used as a better approach to restoring oil contaminated environments through bioremediation process.