Assessment of Zinc and Sulphur Solubilizing Plant Growth Promoting Organisms for Potential Use for Lipid Hydrolysis and Cellulose Degradation in Compost for Enhanced Food Quality

The use of zinc and Sulphur solubilizing bacteria to improve compost will help in the mineralization of these vital elements during its production process. Hence, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the assessment of the ability of some plant growth promoting bacteria to solubilize zinc and sulphur and hydrolyze starch and lipid and degrade cellulose in compost using appropriate standard techniques. Data obtained show out of 15 isolates screened for zinc and Sulphur solubilizing ability, only five were able to solubilize zinc and Sulphur as well as hydrolyze starch, lipid and degrade cellulose. The five isolates were selected and identified as Enterobacter kobei, Thiobacillus sp., Aspergillus udagawae, Aspergillus terreus and Meyerozyma guillermondii. Meyerozyma guillermondii showed the greatest ability to solubilize zinc and sulphur with solubilisation efficiency of 4.6 and 4.4, respectively. The five selected isolates showed great potential for possible use to fortify compost as a way of enriching the compost with zinc and sulphur for plant uptake.