African Journal of Agronomy

African Journal of Agronomy ISSN: 2375-1185 Vol. 12 (6), pp. 001-006, June, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Exploration of Phenol Degradation Capabilities in Microbes from Olive Mill Waste: A Phenotypic Analysis

M.A. El-Khateeb^1,2*, Bilal Ahmed Tantry³, Abdul Hafeez Mohammed³ and Shaik Rahiman⁴

¹Chemistry Department, College of science, AlJouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia.
²Water Pollution Control Department, National Research Center, Dooki, Cairo, Egypt.
³Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, AlJouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia.

⁴Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, AlJouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia.

Received 11 January, 2024, Accepted 12 April, 2024

Abstract

The growth of the olive oil production in Saudi Arabia particularly in Al Jouf region in recent years has been accompanied by an increase in the discharge of associated processing waste. Olive mill waste is produced through the extraction of oil from the olive fruit using the traditional mill and press process. Deterioration of the environment due to olive mill wastes disposal is a serious problem. When olive mill waste is disposed into the soil, it affects soil quality, soil micro flora and also toxic to plants. The aim of this work is to isolate microorganism (bacterial or fungal strains) from OMW capable of degrading phenols. Olive mill wastewater, olive mill waste and soil (beside oil production mill) contaminated with olive waste were used for isolation of phenol tolerant microorganisms. Four strains (two fungal and two bacterial) were isolated from olive mill waste. The isolated strains were Candida tropicalis and Phanerochaete chrysosporium (fungal strains) and Bacillus sp. and Rhodococcus sp. (bacterial strains). These strains were able to degrade phenols and could be used for bioremediation of olive mill waste.

Key words: Bioremediation, bacteria, fungi, Sakaka.