Microbiological and Physico chemical Examination of Crude Oil Contaminated Soil from Awka Anambra State Nigeria

Crude oil is a complex mixture of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons that causes a variety of risks when released into agricultural and aquatic environment. This oil can alter population dynamics and disrupt tropic integrations and the structure of natural communities within ecosystems during spills. Microbiological and Physico chemical properties of crude oil and pristine soil samples were assessed using standard procedures. Most frequently occurring microbial isolates obtained were identified using molecular typing. Bacteria isolated from the contaminated soil were Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Alcaligenes faecalis and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Fungi isolated were Penicillium citrinnum, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus and Rhizopus stolonifer. The most frequently occurring novel isolates were S. maltophilia, P. sordelli, B. thuringensis, F. solani, C. deightonni, P. citrinnum, and C. bertholletiae. Percentage organic carbon content of the crude oil contaminated soil was 21.50 while the nitrogen content was 0.90 with a pH value of 4.69. This research showed that crude oil contamination of agricultural soil distorts its physico chemical parameters which has consequent toxicity on the soil, thus possibly hampering its fitness for use in crop production. Anagboso, M. O. | Orji, M. U. | Ikele, M. O. "Microbiological and Physico-chemical Examination of Crude Oil Contaminated Soil from Awka Anambra State Nigeria" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-6 , October 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd46442.pdf Paper URL : https://www.ijtsrd.com/biological-science/microbiology/46442/microbiological-and-physicochemical-examination-of-crude-oil-contaminated-soil-from-awka-anambra-state-nigeria/anagboso-m-o