Microbial Analyses of Soil Samples in the Vicinity of Dye Pits in Zaria City, Northern Nigeria

This study was conducted to investigate the microbial enumeration and biomass of soil samples in the vicinity of dye pits in Zaria City, Northern Nigeria. A total of 90 soil samples were collected from five different dye sites with one location from non dye site. The pH of the non dye area was slightly acidic and ranged from 4.70- 5.40 both in CaCl2 and H2O while the contaminated samples ranged from 8.59-9.98 which indicate alkalinity. Microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen ranged from 170.82 - 334.44 mg/kg, and 16.89 - 37.28 mg/kg respectively. The soil microbial biomass, carbon and nitrogen including total bacterial and fungal counts of the soil samples were estimated using standard technique. Microbial enumeration showed the abundance of bacterial and fungal counts. The dominant genera of bacterial and fungal counts were Bacillus and Aspergillus. The highest bacterial count was observed in Kofar Gayan, while the lowest value was in Mabuga so also for fungal counts. Similar bacterial and fungal species were encountered in the different sampling locations in the course of this study, but their occurrences and levels of predominance were different. Bacillus spp dominated the bacterial isolates while Aspergillus spp was the most dominant fungus across the different sampling locations. Bacterial and fungal abundance were typical of an environment with high species richness and functional diversity.