Bioremediation of Textile dyes by Fungal-Bacterial Biofilms

Textile waste pollutants are the most polluting waste water and their treatment is greatly challenging for their safe discard. Microbial communities have potential ability to decolorize synthetic commercial dyes used for textile dyeing. Therefore, this study was aimed to develop potential dye degrading microbial biofilms from endophytic fungi and soil bacteria. Endophytic fungi were isolated from the leaves of Eleusine indica (Linn) and bacteria were isolated from soil samples obtained near textile effluent dumping site in Biyagama Industrial zone, Sri Lanka. Biofilms were developed after screening the fungal and bacterial isolates with Malachite green and Nigrosin disodium dyes separately and the decolorization assay was performed for biofilms along with monocultures to evaluate their ability for dye decolorization. The highest significant (P< 0.05) decolorization percentages were observed by Tricoderma harzianum (F2) and Bacillus subtilis (B1) for both dyes. All the biofilm combinations showed higher decolorization percentage than that of the monocultures. Thus, it can be concluded that the biofilms can be used as an efficient biological tool for textile effluent treatment.