South Asian Journal of Research in Microbiology

Aims: This study examined the prevalence of filamentous fungi in Onyearugbulem abattoir wastewater samples in Akure, Nigeria.

Methodology: The  abattoir’s water source, 5 m away from animal washings, the incinerator, 10 m upstream, 10 m downstream and 100 m downstream were sampled between November 2014 and October 2015 for aerobic and anaerobic fungal counts using standard recommended procedures. Fungal isolates were identified macroscopically and microscopically.

Results: The results showed that the water source had the lowest fungal count (1.4x10³ sfu/ml in November and 2.0x10² sfu/ml in February for aerobic and anaerobic counts respectively) throughout the sampling period unlike the incinerator which had the highest fungal count (5.2x10³ sfu/ml in August and 5.5x10³ sfu/ml in July for aerobic and anaerobic counts respectively). The aerobic fungal count was lower than the anaerobic fungal count in all the six (6) sampling points except the abattoir water source. The trendline of the data collected also showed a significant increase (p≤0.05) of the fungal counts in the wet season as compared to the dry season. The fungi isolated are Rhizopus spp., Aspergillus fumigatus, Penicillium chrysogenum, Fusarium oxysporium and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Conclusion: This work indicated a high dominance of fungi in water bodies associated with the slaughterhouse and therefore warns against environmental and health hazards associated with these microorganisms.