Assessment of the Bacterial and Fungal Load in Compost Manure made from Tannery Waste - Sawdust mix

The study aimed at enumerating bacteria and fungi in tannery waste, sawdust, soil as well as finished compost by using standard method. The bacterial isolates were species of Bacillus, Eschericia coli, Micrococcus, Proteus, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus and Aspergillus, Mucor, Tricophyton, Rhizopus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Paecilomyces, Candida and Saccharomyces. The frequencies of bacterial occurrence from the tannery waste (TW), sawdust (SD) and soil (SL) were 1.75 – 10.53%, 1.75 – 8.78% and 1.75 – 10.53% ranges respectively. Bacillus subtilis were most frequently encountered (26.32%) followed by P. aeruginosa (19.29%) and Streptococcus faecalis (17.54%). S. aureus and Enterococcus faecalis had the least of occurrence of (3.51%). Among the fungal isolates A. niger had the highest frequency of occurrence (22.22%) followed by A. flavus and P. chrysogenum with 19.05% each Tricophyton rubrum, Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and S. cerevisiae occurred in TW, SD and SL, while C. albicans occurred in TW and SD only. At the mesophilic temperature of < 40 oC species of S. aureus, S. faecalis, P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis, M. luteus, P. mirabilis. A. niger, A. flavus, P. chrysogenum, S. cerevisiae and C. albicans predominated within 7 days of composting for both bacteria and fungi. The results obtained suggest that the bacteria and fungi associated with the production of compost from tannery waste and sawdust were mostly primary degraders of organic compounds, commonly found in the environment