National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
|
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 |
Fungi are now gaining attention as a tool for water quality due to their implication in waterborne infections. The effect of human activities on the population, distribution and diversity of fungi in Lobia Creek was investigated. Water samples were collected from five designated stations along Lobia creek into separate sterile bottles. Samples were transported in ice packed coolers to the laboratory for analysis using standard mycological techniques. A total of 60 water samples were analyzed during the six months sampling period (August 2020 to January 2021). Results of fungal count for toilet, jetty, abattoir, drinking and control were 2.1±0.42×104cfu/ml, 1.1±0.14×104cfu/ml, 1.9±0.14×104cfu/ml, 7.0±0.04×102cfu/ml, and 7.0±0.01×102cfu/ml, respectively. The decreasing order of fungal population in the stations was; Toilet ˃ Abattoir ˃ Jetty ˃ Drinking water ˃ Control. Statistical analysis showed that, there was significant difference (p<0.05) across the sampled stations. Results also showed that the fungal counts recorded in the toilet station was not significantly different (P>0.05) from the counts recorded for the jetty and abattoir station despite being slightly higher but was significantly higher (P<0.05) than the counts recorded for drinking and control samples. Percentage occurrences for fungal isolates were: Rhizopus sp (2.3%), Penicillium sp (27.3%), Mucor sp (15.9%), Candida krusei (9.1%), A. niger (11.4%), Saccharomyces sp (4.5%), Fusarium sp (10.2%), Aspergillus sp (11.4%) and Candida sp (8.0%). The decreasing order of the types of fungi in the locations was; Toilet ˃ Abattoir ˃ Jetty ˃ Control ˃ Drinking water. The high fungal load and uneven distribution of fungal types in all stations is attributed to the type of human activity in respective station. The fungi reported are known potential pathogens that can cause respiratory, skin and soft tissue infections and poses health risk to the public.
Citations |
 |
 |
 |
 |
