Effect of oyster mushroom (<i>Pleurotus ostreatus</i>) mycelia on petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated substrate

Abstract

A study on the mycoremediation effect of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) mycelia on petroleum-hydrocarbon-contaminated substrate was carried out in the mushroom unit of the Faculty of Agriculture Demonstration Farm, located in the University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The study aimed at determining the degree of reduction or breakdown of chains of hydrocarbon in a petroleum-hydrocarbon-contaminated substrate over time. Mushroom substrate comprised sawdust enriched with nutrients to allow for microbial proliferation was obtained from the demonstration farm, while crude oil obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) was used as contaminant. 230g of fully ramified mushroom substrate was weighed out in triplicates and subjected to three treatment regimes (A, B and C). Treatments A, B and C were contaminated with 20ml, 40ml and 60ml of crude oil respectively, while their corresponding controls similarly contaminated with crude oil had no mushroom mycelia and were further sterilized to eliminate any microbial life. The experiment was monitored for four weeks within which total hydrocarbon concentrations in treatments A, B and C were reduced by 90%, 87% and 85% respectively over time while no change occurred in their corresponding control groups. It is recommended that the application of mushroom mycelium is a new and effective tool in the rapid remediation of sites contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons over a short period of time as opposed to the usual conventional, time-consuming, and inefficient methods of waste management in the environment.

Keywords: Mycoremediation, Mycelia, Contaminated Soil, Oyster Mushroom