Article,
Microbiological and physicochemical analyses of top soils obtained from four municipal waste dumpsites in Benin City, Nigeria
International Journal of Microbiology and Mycology | IJMM, Vol. 1 (No. 1): p. 23-30 (November 2013)org / 10. 6084 / m 9. figshare. 1384952.
Abstract
Several methodologies were utilized to evaluate the microbiological and physico chemical properties of top soil samples bored from four municipal waste dumpsites and a farmland (control sample) all located in Benin City, Edo State. The soil samples were obtained during the month of January, 2013. The mean aerobic bacterial counts for the soil samples ranged from 9.7 × 103 cfu/g for the control
soil to 1.80 × 104 cfu/g for the soil sourced from the dump site at Ikheuniro. The mean heterotrophic fungal counts varied from 7.0 × 102 cfu/g for capitol dumpsite to 3.3 × 103 cfu/g for the control soil. Ten (10) microbial isolates were characterized and identified; Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Aeromonas sp., Enterobacter sp., Klebsiella sp. and Staphylococcus sp., Aspergillus sp., Mucor sp.,
Saccharomyces sp. and Fusarium sp. respectively. Both Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. were the most dominant amongst the bacterial isolates whilst Staphylococcus sp. was the least occurring bacterial isolate. Aspergillus sp. was the highest occurring fungal isolate while the least isolated fungal culture was Saccharomyces sp. The physico chemical results showed values which ranged from 5.60 to 8.08, 164.00 μS/cm to 540.00 μS/cm, 2.378 mg/kg to 3.444 mg/kg, 0.009 mg/kg to 0.016 mg/kg for pH, electrical conductivity, sulphate and cadmium. Despite the positive impacts of the dumped municipal wastes on the microbial and organic properties of the analyzed soils, disposal of municipal wastes in open dump sites is an archaic and unsustainable option in the management of municipal wastes.
