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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
The microbial ecology of an outdoor artwork gallery was evaluated using basic microbiological standardize techniques. The sculptures made up of wood, cement and cast metal had a mean heterotrophic bacterial count of; wood (3.2×104), cement (4.3×104) and metal (2.5×104) while the fungal count were wood (4.6×104), cement (2.7×104) and metal (1.8×104) colonies forming unit per milliliter of the scrapped solutions. The eight (8) bacterial genera and their frequency of occurrence obtained were; Bacillus sp (75%), Pseudomonas sp (74.3%), Enterobacter sp (71.4%), Micrococcus sp (67.1%), Flavobacterium sp (54.3%), Acinobacter sp (51.1%), Sarcina sp (50%) and Cyanobacterium sp (32.9%). The eight fungal genera obtained were: Aspergillus sp (97.1%), Penicillium sp (87.1%), Fusarium sp (78.6%), Cryptococcus sp (68.6%), Rhizopus sp (62.9%), Alternaria sp (58.6%), Mold sp (52.9%) and yeast (45.7%). Statistically, there was no significant (p>0.05) difference between the bacterial and fungal occurrence. However, a significant (p>0.05) difference was observed among the sculptured materials: for bacteria; cement > wood > metal while for fungi; wood > cement > metal. The enhanced colonization rate and growth of the microbial isolates correlated (r=0.01) positively to the sampled materials as substrates, physicochemical properties of the study site and the presence of the cations and anions as means of electron transport. The presence of these species of bacteria and fungi promote serious deterioration problems to the aesthetic values of these sculptures. Therefore, empirical study targeting the control and preservation of these artworks with natural and environmentally friendly materials is suggested.