Phenol Utilization by Aspergillus flavus Isolated from River and Wastewater

Abstract

Six fungal species were isolated from Oyun River and wastewater from Lagos Hostel within the University of Ilorin. Streak plate method was used for the isolation of the fungi on Potato Dextrose Agar incubated at 25 oC for 72hours. The fungi were identified as Chrysonilia sitophilia, Penicillium chrysogenum, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Rhodotorula sp., and Aspergillus flavus. Biodegradation of phenol was done using Aspergillus flavus at the following concentrations, 0.2mM, 0.4mM, 0.6mM, 0.8mM, and 1.0mM over fifteen days’ incubation period with sampling every three days under aerobic conditions. The depletion of phenol was measured by spectrophotometer. Aspergillus flavus showed the highest disappearance value of 0.048 at concentration of 1mM, followed by 0.023 at concentration of 0.178 mol-1, followed by 0.022 at concentration of 0.6mM, followed by 0.02 at concentration of 0.8mM, and lastly 0.018 at concentration of 0.2mM. The highest degradative value occurred at 1mM (0.048) and the lowest at 0.2mM (0.018). This shows that Aspergillus flavus is a potential phenol degrader and can be used in biotechnology for control of ecological oil spillage/pollution.