STUDIES ON BIODEGRADATION OF PLASTICS BY ASPERGILLUS SP. ISOLATED FROM DYE EFFLUENT ENRICHED SOIL

Plastic wastes accumulating in the environment are posing an ever increasing ecological threat. Plastics that are biodegradable can be considered environment friendly, they have an increasing range of potential application and are driven by the growing use of plastics in packaging. Improperly disposed plastic materials are a significant source of environmental pollution, potentially harming life. Microorganisms plays a major role for saving our environments by degrading plastic wastes, which are toxic either in their native form or modified to be toxic. Isolation of microbial strain may able to degrade plastic waste from polluted sources, such as soil. In the present research, an attempt has been made to identify the suitable fungal species for microbial degradation of polythene. The three fungal species namely Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus foetidus were isolated from dye effluent enriched soil using plating and staining technique. The biodegradation of plastic using three Aspergillus species was studied. Among the three fungal strains, A.niger gave the better degradation potential than A.flavus and A.foetidus. Key words: Biodegradation, Aspergillus species, Polythene bag, Weight loss, Isolation