Microbial and Physicochemical Qualities of River Owena Sediments

Microbial quality, physicochemical parameters and heavy metals determination of sediment samples from River Owena, Oriade local government area, Owena, Nigeria. For period of dry and wet seasons. The pH of the sediment samples ranged from 6.44 to 8.00±0.01, organic matter ranged from 17.15 to 35.31%; water holding capacity ranged from 0.323 to 1.779±0.01 ml/g; composition of sand: clay: silt were 75:12:13 %, 33:17:50 %, 62:18:20 % and 50:20:30 %; 82:2:16 %, 48:22:30 %, 32:25:43 % and 43:27:30 % wet and dry seasons respectively indicated more of loamy sand, clay loam, silt clay and loam. Mean concentrations of heavy metals measured in the sediment samples included iron, zinc, manganese, lead, chromium, cadmium, nickel and copper, iron had highest values of 1.89 to 4.1±0.01 mg/kg and cadmium lowest values of 0.01 to 0.12±0.01 mg/kg. A total of fifteen bacterial species were isolated from River Owena sediments, which included Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Salmonella enteritidis, Bacillus subtilis, Serratia marcescens, Shigella sonnei, Bacillus cereus, Micrococcus luteus, Micrococcus varians, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris and Erwinia amylovora. A total of ten fungal species were isolated, which included Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Penicillium chrysogenum, Cladosporium herbarum, Mucor mucedo, Mucor plumbeus, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizopus stolonifer and Rhizopus oryzae. The total bacterial count of the sediment ranged from 4.1 x103 to 3.02 x 103 cfu/g while the total fungal count of the sediment ranged from 4 x 103 to 7.6 x 103 cfu/g. However, the pollution level due to the presence of some pathogenic microorganisms which are of public health significance, but it could be improved upon with appropriate treatment and sanitation.