TITLE:
Ability of Fungi, Isolated from Nsukka Peppers and Garden-Egg Plant Rhizospheres, to Solubilize Phosphate and Tolerate Cadmium
AUTHORS:
C. E. Onyia, C. U. Anyawu, M. N. Ikegbunam
KEYWORDS:
Fungi, Pepper, Garden Egg, Phoshate and Cadmium
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Microbiology,
Vol.5 No.7,
July
8,
2015
ABSTRACT: Fungi
were isolated from the rhizosphere of pepper and garden-egg plants, with the
aim of solubilizing the insoluble phosphate, identifying the most potent
isolate from each rhizosphere and testing their tolerance to cadmium metal. The
fungi isolates were obtained from the rhizosphere of pepper and garden-egg
plants, using PVK agar and NBRIP-BPB broth culture to determine the quantity of
phosphate solubilized. From the spectrophotometric readings, isolates GF1 (Penicillium spp) and PF7 (Aspergillus niger) were identified as
most potent isolates. Various concentrations of cadmium (100, 50, 10 and 1 μg/ml)
were added to the broth containing different isolates for tolerance
determination and a control group for different isolates were also obtained. At
four-day interval, a quantity of phosphates solubilized at different
concentrations of cadmium and control were recorded. The quantity solubilized
in 100, 50, 10 and 1 μg/ml treatment groups increased progressively from Day 4
to Day 12 in both isolates, with a sharp increase observed in isolate GF1. The
tolerance of GF1 to cadmium showed that there was no significant difference (P
two isolates could be used for phosphate
solubilization in cadmium metal environment though GF1 tolerates more
than PF7, and could be employed for bioremediation of cadmium heavy metals.