Opasols A.O and Adewoye S.O
The ability of three fungal isolates (XA, XB, XC) isolated from crude oil contaminated soil to degrade crude oil was studied. The isolates were identified to be Penicillum oxalicum based on their microscopic and macroscopic features. Degradability test showed that Penicillum oxalicum XA, XB and XC were able to metabolize the crude oil constituents with evidence from increase in mycelia weight. After 5 th day of incubation the mycelia weight for the isolates; XA, XB and XC were measured to be 0.39kg, 0.35kg and 0.35kg respectively. On the 20th day of incubation the mycelia mass increased to 0.56g, 0.54g and 0.51g respectively. The percentage of the residual oil on the 5th day of incubation for XA,XB, and XC isolates were quantified to be 73.5%, 68.6% and 75% respectively, whereas on the 20th day of incubation the percentage has reduced to 33% 35% and 31.4% respectively. This study showed that Penicillium oxalicium can be implicated in the remediation of site that may be contaminated with crude oils. Further understanding of the metabolic process of this organism on the crude oil will increase possibilities of developing models and strategies for removing crude oil pollutants from oil-impacted environments.
