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Articles

CJPLS: VOL. 13, NO. 1, JUNE 2025

Bioremediation of heavy metals by some bacterial and fungal species

Submitted
April 26, 2025
Published
2025-05-01

Abstract

Heavy-metal contaminants are increasingly becoming one of the most difficult challenges of contemporary agriculture due to their high toxicity and ability to accumulate in soils and crops. This presents potential threats to humans through food contamination, which could cause detrimental health effects. To overcome this concern, it is necessary to accelerate the pace of restoration of disturbed agricultural lands. Bioremediation is an effective treatment for agricultural soil pollution as it relies on the ability of microorganisms to remove pollutants. Hence, this study aimed to isolate and use bacterial and fungal species from oil-polluted soil samples to remediate heavy metal contaminants. Soil samples were collected from three locations in the B-dere community, Gokana, Rivers State. Physicochemical analysis, identification of bacterial and fungal isolates, selection of heavy metals degrading bacteria and fungi, percentage occurrence of isolates, and screening microbial isolates for heavy metals tolerance index were conducted. The results showed a physicochemical pH of 8.8 at 28.6 °C. Electrical conductivity was 1213 μs/cm, with total nitrogen and organic carbon contents of 14.6% and 9.22%, respectively. Eight bacterial isolates were identified in this study: Nocardia spp., Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Corynebacterium spp, Clostridium spp. Chromobacterium violaceum, Pseudomonas putida and Serratia marcescens. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most prevalent bacterial isolate (29%). However, Bacillus sp had the highest tolerance index to the heavy metals studied. Five fungal cultures were identified from the oil polluted soil: Penicillum sp, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus sp., and Fusarium sp with Aspergillus niger being the most prevalent (34%). Aspergillus sp. had the highest tolerance index. The increase in population observed in both Bacillus sp and Aspergillus sp shows that they have the ability to remediate heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and nickel. Though heavy metals affected some soil microorganisms, which are important in soil fertility but Bacillus and Aspergillus spp have the ability to utilise and degrade lead, nickel and cadmium, particularly in contaminated areas.

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