ASSESSMENT OF MYCOFILTRATION EFFICIENCY OF FOUR BASIDIOMYCETOUS FUNGI FOR THE TREATMENT OF AGRO-PROCESSING EFFLUENTS USING Allium cepa ASSAY
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Abstract
This study assessed the effectiveness of four types of basidiomycetous fungi (Lentinula edodes, Hypholoma sublateritium, Pleurotus pulmonarius, and Stropharia annulata) in treating effluents from cassava, maize, palm oil mills, and abattoirs. A 5 × 5 factorial experiment was conducted
using a completely randomized design with three replicates. Before treatment, palm oil mill effluent showed the highest pollution load, with biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) values of 28,400.56 and 45,760.82 mg/L, respectively. The Brick Top and King Stropharia spawns achieved the largest reductions in pollutant concentrations. In cassava effluent, BOD decreased from 607.18 to 420.54 mg/L after treatment with King Stropharia. For maize effluent, BOD dropped from 2,067.46 to 1,263.24 mg/L. In palm oil mill effluent, BOD was
reduced from 28,400.56 to between 9,112.79 and 9,254.54 mg/L, while COD fell to between 41,005.21 and 42,125.00 mg/L. The BOD in abattoir effluent decreased from 8,325.46 to 2,001.11mg/L. Untreated cassava and palm oil mill effluents caused significant cytotoxic effects on Allium cepa, including mitotic inhibition and chromosome abnormalities along with micronucleus formation. Brick Top and King Stropharia increased the mitotic index in cassava effluent from 6.02% to between 11.03% and 11.48%, while chromosomal abnormalities were reduced from 16.60% to between 2.02% and 2.87%. The two-way ANOVA showed significant impacts of effluent type, fungal species, and their interaction on mitotic index as well as the frequency of abnormalities and micronuclei (p < 0.001). The results show that mycofiltration enhanced the physicochemical quality of agro-processing effluents while decreasing their cytotoxicity.
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