Biodegradation of crude oil in soil using chicken manure

Abstract

To investigate enhancement of crude oil biodegradation by adding microbes to the contaminated soil, chicken manure was put into oil-polluted soil (at 10% v/w pollution level). In the soil amended with chicken manure, 72.5% of the crude oil was degraded, whereas only 52.7% of same oil was degraded in the unamended soil. The remedied soil contains 1.4 × 106 CFU g−1 crude oil-degrading bacteria, and 1.1 × 108 CFU g−1 aerobic heterotrophs. The crude oil-utilising bacteria were identified as species of Pseudomonas, Proteus, Enterobacter, Bacillus and Micrococcus. Chicken manure is therefore promising for crude oil pollution remediation.