AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH, 2017 VOL 1, NO. 1: 35-41 eJManager 10.5455/ajpmph.280308 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Open Access Microbiological and Physicochemical Studies of Wetland Soils in Alimosho Local Gov- ernment Area, Lagos, Nigeria Funmilayo V Doherty, Abdullahi Adeola, Godwin O Ovioma, Idowu A Aneyo, Ruqeeyat O Binuyo Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Sciences, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY The Microbiological and Physicochemical characteristics of wetland soils in Alimosho Received 28 August 2016 Local Government Area, Nigeria were studied during the dry season in 2015. Total Accepted 18 October 2017 Heterotrophic Bacterial Counts (THBC) and Total Fungal Counts (TFC) were deter- Published 24 October 2017 mined using standard procedures from four locations at 2-20cm depths during the KEYWORDS dry season. Microbial isolates were characterized and identified. Chemical param- eters were also determined using UV-VIS Spectrophotometer. THBC ranged from Wetland; Sustainable Agricul- 7.0×103cfu/g to 2.0×103cfu/g for the different locations of the site. The THBC for the ture; Microbiological; Physico- chemical parameters control site was 5.0×103cfu/g, Site 1 was 2.0×103cfu/g, Site 2 was 7.0×103cfu/g and Site 3 was 3.0×103cfu/g. TFC ranged from 8.0×103cfu/g to 3.0×103cfu/g for different loca- tions of the site. The TFC for the control site was 4.0×103cfu/g, Site1 was 3.0×103cfu/g, Site2 was 8.0×103cfu/g, and Site3 was 3.0×103cfu/g respectively. Bacillus sp, Staphy- lococcus sp, Pseudomonas sp, Klebsiella sp, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis and Streptococcus species which were identified by biochemical test were predominate bacteria while Aspergillus sp, Penicillium sp, Rhizopus sp, Mucor sp and Fusarium sp which were also identified macroscopically and microscopically were the domi- nant fungi genera isolated. The physicochemical results showed values which ranged from 1957.33mg/kg to 2703.88mg/kg for Iron, 122.87mg/kg to 172.95mg/kg for Zinc, 24250.12mg/kg to 31832.45mg/kg for Potassium, 8078.48mg/kg to 12269.17mg/kg for Calcium, 0.17ppm to 0.30ppm for Phosphate and 0.04ppm to 0.8ppm for Nitrite. The pH ranged from 5.14 to 6.52 and Temperature ranged from 25°C to 27.3°C. It was observed that the pH was generally acidic at all locations. Potassium dominated the exchangeable bases among the elements while phosphate and nitrite have the least occurrence. Though the presence of some minerals in higher amount in the soil may lead to increase in bacterial load and help the organisms in degrading a wide variety of organic material which will eventually lead to high yield productivity of agricultural products from the wetland. These results provide the baseline data of Alimosho wet- land soils for its management and sustainable agriculture. Introduction ecosystems in the world and performs numerous In Nigeria, Wetland is estimated to cover about important functions like farming, groundwater re- 28,000 km2 which are about 3% of the 923,768 km2 search etc. They are generally rich in mineral salts land surface area of the country [1]. Wetlands are due to water supply from the surroundings via run- rich in soil nutrients, producing good soil condi- off and/or groundwater [2]. tions which favour the growth of various vegetation. Some of the human activities which can lead to They rank among the most productive and valuable soil contamination include discharge of industrial Contact Abdullahi Adeola [email protected] Environmental Biology Unit, Department of Biological Science, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos. Nigeria. © EJManager. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, noncommercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. Funmilayo V Doherty, Abdullahi Adeola, Godwin O Ovioma, Idowu A Aneyo, Ruqeeyat O Binuyo Table 1. Total heterotrophic bacterial and fungal counts (Logarithm of mean value) of each sample isolated from wetland soil. TOTAL HETEROTROPHIC BACTERIAL COUNT (log TOTAL HETEROTROPHIC FUNGAL COUNT (log SAMPLING LOCATIONS cfu/g) cfu/g) C 3.6989 3.6021 S1 3.3010 3.4771 S2 3.8451 3.9031 S3 3.4771 3.4771 KEY: S1, S2, S3 and Control (C) represent different sample locations. and domestic waste, mining, smelting operations, and Table 2. Frequency of occurrence of fungal isolates from vehicular emission [3]. Toxic heavy metals arising the wetland soils. from human activities accumulate in the soils which FUNGAL ISOLATES % FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE have the tendency to absorb physiologically toxic met- als and these ultimately get to a human when plants Aspergillus sp. 20.0 ± 0.00 grown on such soil are consumed. The chemical nature Penicillium sp. 20.1 ±0.00 of a soil affects the type and size of its microbial popu- Rhizopus sp. 15.7 ±0.02 lation. The soil also acts as a buffer, reducing the range Mucor sp. 4.9 ± 0.01 of physical conditions as compared with those found Fusarium sp. 2.3 ± 0.03 on and above its surface. Its effectiveness as a buffer UNIDENTIFIED 37 ± 0.02 will depend on its chemical composition and physical make-up [4]. Few studies have also demonstrated the marked curves and in some places with very deep gully and differences in chemical properties between the well- waterfallsstraight, free-flowing as a result and of erosionfree of floating along the debris, bank it thenand drained and poorly drained soil from Southern Nigeria. main course of the river. Human activities found by the The most comprehensive study of hydromorphic soils bank of the river are three cement block-making in- was carried out on the fresh water marsh supporting dustries and religious activities. Various types of birds including ducks, pigeons, and egrets were seen on the the nutrients were found to be low in these soils, the river. There are also well-constructed drainages lead- availableraffia palms forms in Southern were much Nigeria higher [5]. in Although the waterlogged most of ing into the water. There are some agricultural activi- than in the dry conditions. It has also been established ties around the area such as plantations of Sugar cane, that wet soils formed on the basement complex rocks had better fertility status than those on sedimentary 0 coastal plain sands. Information on the microbiology andBamboo, N060 and Banana.0 The coordinate of Abule Odu of hydromorphic soils of Lagos State is scanty; howev- Wetland River is between N06035.433` E003 16.409` er, the trace metal concentrations in wetland soils in Collection35 of 68` Samples E003 16.421`. Soil samples were collected from four locations (S1, previously studied. S2, S3, and C, the control). Five soil samples were col- AlimoshoThis study area was of Lagoscarried state out toof examineNigeria have and comparenot been lected from each sampling points into sterile poly- the bacteriological quality and concentration of some thene bags with soil auger at the depth of 20cm [6]. major elements of soil samples from Wetland soils The well labeled sterile polyethylene bags were taken in ice-packed coolers to the Laboratory for microbio- South-West, Nigeria. logical and physicochemical analysis. in Alimosho Local Government area in Lagos State, Materials and Methods Microbiological Analysis Study Area Enumeration and Isolation of microbial isolates sterile prepared peptone water diluent and mixed Abule Odu Wetland River is located at Abule Odu in- gentlyOne gram under of asepticeach sample conditions. was addedThe soil to samples9 ml of ingEgbeda, river Iyana during Ipaja, the Alimoshorainy season Local while Government slow-moving area were serially diluted and subcultured on nutrient of Lagos State Nigeria. It is a freshwater and free flow agar using pour plate techniques and the total 3at6 the beginning of dry season. The river is at first Am J Prev Med Public Health • 2017 • Vol 1 • Issue 1 Microbiological and Physicochemical Studies of Wetland Soils in Alimosho, Lagos Table 3. Optical char- Colony Colony shape CharacterizationColony size andElevation IdentificationColony edge of pure bacterial isolates. Pigmentation Consistency Organisms acteristics surface Rhizoid Large Flat Entire Translucent Smooth Golden Butyrous Staphylococcus Yellow aureus Irregular Small Flat Entire Opaque Wrinkled Green Mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa Circular Large Flat Entire Translucent Smooth Creamy Butyrous Escherichia coli Circular Large Raised Entire Translucent Slimy Creamy Mucoid Klebsiella pneumo- niae Circular Medium Flat Irregular Opaque Wrinkled Creamy Butyrous Bacillus sp Fishy odour Small Raised Even Translucent Rough Creamy Butyrous Proteus sp Circular Large Flat Entire Opaque Smooth Creamy Mucoid Streptococcus faecalis Circular Large Flat Irregular Opaque Smooth Creamy Mucoid Bacillus sp Table 4. Biochemical test of pure bacterial isolates. Colonial Characteristics Gram Stain Motility Catalase Coagulase Citrate Indole Methyl Red Organism Small milky white colonies + Rods + + - + - - Bacillus sp Large white colonies + Rods + + - + - + Bacillus sp Large gray colonies - Rod - - - + - - Klebsiella sp Large golden yellow colonies + Cocci - + + + - - Staphylococcus sp Large milky white colonies -Rod + + - + - + Proteus mirabilis Small white colonies -Rod + + - - + + Escherichia coli Blue-green colonies - Rod + + - + - + Pseudomonas sp Large milky rhizoid colonies + Cocci - - - - - + Streptococcus sp Key: + refers to positive,