Isolation of filamentous fungi present in swine wastewater that are resistant and with the ability to remove atrazine

Abstract

In this work, we isolated and identified filamentous fungi present in swine wastewater (SW) that are resistant and with the ability to remove atrazine removal. For the isolation, the SW was inoculated into liquid medium containing 0.01 and 0.1 g L^-1 of atrazine and after the adaptation period, was transferred on solid medium containing 10 mg L^-1 atrazine. Three strains of filamentous fungi were isolated and identified as Cladosporium cladosporioide, Rhizopus stolonifer and Penicillium purpurogenum. The isolates were tested for their ability to degrade atrazine in liquid medium containing 1.5 g L^-1 of the herbicide as single source of carbon and nitrogen. In 15 days of culture, the isolated R. stolonifer showed a higher removal rate (73.75%), followed by P. purpurogenum (73.42%) and C. cladosporioides (68.42%), indicating a high possibility of using these microorganisms in the removal of atrazine in waters and effluents.

Key words: Atrazine, swine, filamentous fungi.