Isolation of bacteria from mechanic workshops' soil environment contaminated with used engine oil

Abstract

The study was designed to evaluate the bacterial diversity of soil environment contaminated with used engine oil. Ten mechanic workshops within Enugu metropolis were selected and six soil samples were collected from each site. These were analyzed using Bushnell Haas enrichment medium. Samples were enumerated using ten fold dilutions from 1:10 to 1:100000 from the soil samples. The result showed the isolation of Bacillus Stearothermophilus (8.3%) and Cyanobacteria (1.7%) from the sites sampled. The number of viable bacterial growth of B. Stearothermophilus and Cyanobacteria were enumerated and expressed in colony forming units. Agbani had bacteria densities of 5 × 10 4, 1.25 × 104 and 6.25 × 105 from the three different sites respectively, Asata with 5.10 × 104 and 2.5 × 104, independence layout with bacterial density of 2.5 × 102, and Uwani/Coal camp with 2.5 × 104 and 6.25 × 105. Amongst the 10 different sites studied, Agbani and Uwani/Coal camp had the highest bacteria density of 6.25 × 10 5. © 2009 Academic Journals.