ISSN 2736-1756
Advanced Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 2017
Available online at http://internationalscholarsjournals.org/journal/ajmr
© 2017 International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Comparative degradation of sawdust by microorganisms isolated from it
J. A. Lennox1*, C. Abriba1, Bello N. Alabi1 and F. C. Akubuenyi2
1Department of Microbiology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.
2Department of Biological Sciences, Cross River State, University of Science and Technology, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.
Accepted 22 June, 2016
Abstract
Microorganisms isolated from sawdust have been demonstrated to be effective in its degradation. Eight bacteria and eight fungi were isolated from wet decaying sawdust. These were tested for their capability to degrade sawdust. Among the bacteria, C ellulomonas sp. was found to be the most effective degrading agent based on its high percentage degradation (18.3%). This was followed by Micrococcus sp. (16.0%) and Pseudomonas sp. (14.6%), Cytophaga sp. and Bacillus sp. had the lowest percentage degradation of 0.2 and 7.7%, respectively. The fungi, Penicillium sp. had the highest percentage degradation of 14.3%, followed by Mucor sp. (13.3%) and Trichoderma sp. (9.5%). Asp. ergillus sp. and Absidia sp. had the lowest percentage degradation of 4.3 and 6.5%, respectively. This report shows that indigenous microorganisms possess the capacity to degrade sawdust.
Key words: Degradation, sawdust, utilizing, autochthonous microorganisms.