HEAVY METAL TOLERANCE POTENTIAL OF FUNGUS ISOLATED FROM EFFLUENT DUMPING SITES OF LLOYDS STEEL INDUSTRIAL AREA OF WARDHA CITY, MAHARASHTRA.

Microbiology

The soil contamination with the heavy metals is the growing concern throughout the world as the result of industrialization, agricultural and other anthropogenic activities. The fungi are the most common and efficient group of the heavy metal resistant microbial family which have potential for bioremediation of metals. This study investigates the tolerance potential of different species of indigenous fungi that isolated from effluents dumping sites of Lloyds steel industrial area of Wardha city, Maharashtra. All the strains were grown on Potato dextrose agar (PDA) media and morphological characterization of all the isolates were performed by using standard microbiological protocols. Different strains were identified as A niger, A. flavus, Fusarium sp., Fusarium sp., Curvalaria and Cladosporium sp. Among them, three fungal species Viz; A niger, A. flavus and Cladosporium were screened for their resistance to copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn) and Lead (Pb) in potato dextrose agar plates amended with various concentrations ranging from 200-1000 mg/lit. The results revealed that the majority of the isolates were resistant to Pb, Cu and Zn. The present study reveals that A.niger and A. flavus were the potent fungal isolates who could tolerate the highest concentration of heavy metal ie. Zn and Cu respectively with 1.79 metal tolerance index for both the heavy metals at 600 mg/lit. On the other hand both A.niger and A. flavus found to be sensitive against high concentration of Pb ie. Metal tolerance index of 0 and 0.25 respectively at 1000 mg/lit. Cladosporium sp. showed highest metal tolerance index of 1.75 against Pb and lowest metal tolerance index of 0.45 against Cu and Zn each. Hence heavy metals contaminated industrial soil might be considered as a precious natural source of resistant fungal strains, which can be used significantly as a bioleaching or bioremediation tool.

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