1Department of Biotechnology, Modem Institute of Technology(MIT), Dhalwala, Rishikesh-249201, Uttarakhand, India.
2Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali University, Banasthali-304022, Rajasthan, India.
3Department of Biochemistry, S.B.S. P.G. Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Research, Balawala, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
Online published on 11 December, 2012.
Information regarding the physico-chemical properties and the microbial load of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PARs) contaminated soil is important for standardization of bioremediation processes. Physico-chemical analysis of PAHs contaminated soil involves determination of temperature, pH, nutrient content (total organic carbon, inorganic phosphorous and inorganic nitrates) and the PARs contents. The present study encompasses the evaluation of the physico-chemical parameters and bacterial load of seven different automobile contaminanted soil samples namely AMT-1 to AMT-7 collected from different locations of Uttarakhand, India. The soil temperature ranged from 38°C to 43°C, pH 6.80 to 8.10, moisture contents 0.472–1.864 mg/g of soil. The inorganic phosphates, nitrates and total organic contents ranged 0.030–0.499 mg/g, 0.221–7.112 μg/g, and 75.25–270.3 mg/g of soil respectively. The total-PAR concentrations ranged from 21.81 to 75.25 μg/g of soils whereas bacterial load ranged from 5Xl02 (log10 2.698) to 2.lXl05 (log10 5.324) CFU/g of soil at various soil samples. It was noted that the soil samples from automobile repair work stations located in the market places having heavy transport activities demonstrated significantly higher total organic carbon, total PARs contents and soil temperature while showing lower moisture contents and bacterial counts.
Automobile contaminated soil, Bioremediation, Colony Forming Units (CFU)/g, PARs, Physico-chemical analysis
