Isolation and Characterization of Bacteria from Selected Forest Soil and Water Hyacinth (eichhornia crassipes) Compost for Effective Soil Amendments (Published)
A forest is a sizable tract of agricultural land that has been left untouched for several decades and is covered with trees and plants. Water hyacinth and harboring river were collected from new Calabar River in River state Nigeria. Microbiological analyses of the samples were determined using standard techniques. Bacteria population of the soil and water hyacinth compost ranged from 100.66 ± 2.07x 109 CFU/g to 56.00 ± 8.88x 108 CFU/g. The hydrocarbon utilizing bacterial (HUB) counts range from 55.33± 5.50x 108 to 31.0± 3.11x 108 CFU/g respectively. Klebsiella sp., Escherichia sp., Staphylococcus sp., Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp and Serratia sp. with Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. as the predominate genera. This study finds that soil from forests and water hyacinth is a good source of microbes that contain organic soil amendment of various groups of nitrogen-fixing and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria. These bacteria can be harvested as biomass or prepared into microbial suspension. To assess their effectiveness in enhancing soil quality and integrity for productive agriculture, this study suggests using the isolates from water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) compost and forest soil either separately or in combination as soil amendment
Keywords: Forest, and microbe, genera, water hyacinth compost