Abstract

This study involving assessment of the enzyme lipase as indicator of microbial degradation of crude oil was carried out using indigenous and exogenous soil microorganism. Standard microbiological, physiological and biochemical methods were adopted. Result obtained revealed Edwardsiella tarda, Bacterium aliphaticum,Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas maltiphilia, Fusarium vertiaculloide, Botryodiphodia thiobroma, Fusiarum oxysporum, Cryptococcus neofomas, Aspergillus niger and Candida tropicalis as organisms indigenous to soil that have the potential to degrade crude oil. While biochemical analysis revealed that except B. aliphaticum which had lipase activity of 3.99 µ/ml, fungal isolates generally recorded higher lipase activities than bacterial isolates. A. niger showed the highest lipase activity of 4.00 µ/ml while P. maltophilia gave the least activity of 0.45 µ/ml after 6 weeks of remediation. The findings have possible industrial and environmental implications especially towards developing a bioremediation protocol at the enzymatic level.

Key words: Bioremediation, crude oil, enzymes.