Micro-Organism Associated With Samples Collected From Crude Oil-Spilled Soil :- Imo, Joy C

ABSTRACT of 0 to 15 may shield them from the toxic effects ofthe hydrocarbons. xii recorded bacterial load ranging from 8.7 x 107 cfu/g to 1.02 x 108 cfu/g. The control soil had bacterial load ranging from 1.2 x 107 cfu/g to 1.7 x 107 cfu/g. The result of the percentage i occurrence of bacteria showed that Baccilus specie had the predominant occurrence of 92.59% ;while Norcadia had the least occurrence of 22.2%, Bacillus species predominated, especially in the crude oil polluted soil. This may be due to the ability ofthe organisms to produce spores, which The introduction ofpetroleum hydrocarbons into a pristine environment immediately changes the nature ofthat environment. The introduced hydrocarbons kill or inhibit many microbial species, thereby altering the functionality ofthe microbial community and therefore the ecosystem. This study is aimed at isolating, characterizing and identifying Bacteria isolates from petroleum spilled soil. A total of 9 soil samples were collected within Umuahia and Umudike from two soil depths cm and 15 to 30 cm in both locations in a randomized manner. The samples were analyzed microbiologically and biochemically. The bacterial load ofthe spill contaminated area ranged from 1.12 x 108 cfu/g to 1.35 x 108 cfu/g while the outside immediate surrounding soil