PAPER TITLE :MICROBIAL POPULATION AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF OIL-POLLUTED SITES IN SELECTED AREAS OF NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA

FUTA JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE | VOLUME 9 NUMBER 2 2013

Paper Details

  • Author(s) : O. F. Olukunle
  • Abstract:

Oil spills are known to be the most important and widespread forms of pollution of agricultural lands and water bodies in the
Niger Delta regions in Nigeria, due to the increasing demand for energy. This is an inevitable disaster which has to be
attended to, in order to minimize its harmful effects on the ecosystem, thereby, conserving nature and sustaining livelihood.
The aims of this study are to determine the growth of the indigenous bacteria and fungi from oil-polluted areas in Niger
Delta, on kerosene, petrol and diesel and determine the physicochemical properties of the oil-polluted soils and waters
bodies. Pour plate technique was employed for the enumeration of bacteria and fungi using Bushnell-Haas medium and
Minimal Salt medium respectively. The culture media were supplemented with 2% oil (kerosene, diesel, and petrol) as sole
source of carbon and energy. Physicochemical parameters of the environmental samples were analyzed using standard
chemical methods such as oven-drying method, EDTA titrimetric method and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The
growth of indigenous bacteria and fungi on the different oils confirms their degradative ability. The population of oildegrading
bacteria that grew on kerosene, diesel and petrol ranged between 17.67 ± 3.5 Cfu/g (Mese and Agbada-Aluu soils)
and 24.00 ± 1.0 Cfu/g (Bonny soil); 16.67± 2.5 Cfu/g (Agbada-Aluu soil) and 22.67± 1.5 Cfu/g (Bonny soil) and 21.33 ± 1.5
Cfu/g (Agbada-Aluu soil) and 27.00 ± 2 Cfu/g (Obite soil) respectively. Hence, they were responsible for the degrading
activity in the sites where the samples were collected. The physicochemical parameters obtained in this study revealed that
the moisture contents and pH of the samples were optimum for oil degradation. The values for oil and grease found in the
water samples (26.42–32.12)mg/l shows that the samples were polluted with oil and grease. The concentrations of phosphates
(0.01±0.8 – 0.32± 2.1) and nitrates (<0.01)mg/l were low while the concentration of lead (30±1.8 – 69±1.1) was high when
compared with the recommended standard. In conclusion, the physicochemical analyses of the soil and water showed that the
soils are not good for agriculture and the water, not good for consumption. This calls for immediate bioremediation of the
affected areas using biostimulation.
Keywords: Microbial population, biostimulation, physicochemical parameters, degrading ability.