Screening of Lipase Producing Fungi Isolated from Palm Oil Mill Effluent Impacted Soil

The bio-product and its application have series of setback due to selection and maintenance of strains in Nigeria today. In this study, isolation, identification and screening of lipase producing fungi from palm oil mill effluent (POME) impacted soil was carried out. The Emohua and Isiokpo palm oil mill effluent impacted soil samples were cultured and sub-cultured, identified, characterized and screened. The physicochemical analysis of the palm oil mill effluent impacted soil sample from Emohua had a pH of 6.33±0.01 while that of Isiokpo had 7.78±0.01. The electrical conductivity ranged from 60.43±0.01 -70.62±0.01 for both Emohua and Isiokpo respectively. The fungal load ranged from 3.8x104cfu/ml – 4.6x104cfu/ml for Emohua and Isiokpo respectively. The fungal genera identified were Aspergillus sp, Rhizopus sp, Mucor sp, Penicillum sp, Fusarium sp, Saccharomyces sp and Paecilomyces sp. The results obtained for lipase production on tributyrin media plates after 5 days of incubation showed that five isolates were positive for lipase production as indicated by zone of clearance. The result further revealed that Aspergillus sp had the highest lipase producing ability (having a diameter zone of clearance of 19 ± 0.05 mm), followed by Rhizopus sp and Penicillium sp (15 ± 0.02 mm and 14 ± 0.02 mm) respectively. Mucor sp and Fusarium sp had 11 ± 0.01 mm and 10 ± 0.01 mm. Paecilliomyces sp and Saccharomyces sp had no zone of clearance. These results demonstrate the presence of lipase producing fungi in the palm oil mill effluent impacted soil, and can be harnessed locally for large scale production of the enzyme which is of high economic and biotechnological value in the industries today.