MICROBIOLOGY AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF SEABED SEDIMENTS IN IKO RIVER

Microbiology and physicochemical studies of the seabed sediment from Iko River were evaluated using standard microbiological and analytical procedures. The total heterotrophic bacteria count ranged from 5.4 ×104 to 1.01 × 105 CFU/g while the total heterotrophic fungal count ranged from 5.0 × 103 to 7.0 × 103 CFU/g. A total of nine bacterial species were isolated from the sediment samples from Iko River and they include, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella sp., Escherichia coli, Proteus sp., Shigella sp., Clostridium sp., Streptococcus sp., and Salmonella sp. A total of six fungal species were isolated which included, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albican, Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus niger, Mucor sp., and Penicillum sp. Physicochemical analyses revealed slight decrease in the sediment pH at station A being 5.56 and station B being 5.42 respectively. The electrical conductivity of this station are 42.01 and 44.26 while salinity ranges between 268.12 to 254.31. Mean concentration of heavy metals measured in the sediment samples included iron, copper, zinc, nickel, Cobalt, vanadium, lead and chromium. Zinc had the highest concentration of 8.62 and chromium had the lowest concentration of 0.03. However, the pollution level of the sediment was high due to the presence of some pathogenic microorganisms and toxicity of the heavy metal which are of public health significance, but it can be improved upon with appropriate treatment and sanitation.