Comparative efficiency of different fungal species in composting Municipal Solid Waste collected from Alwarkurichi Town Panchayat, Tamil Nadu
 

Accepted 23^rd May, 2014

Vijiya Kumar C, Antony.S and Murugesan A.G*
Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Sri Paramakalyani Centre of Excellence in Environmental Sciences, Alwarkurichi 627 412, Tamil Nadu, India

*Corresponding author Email: agmspkce@rediffmail.com., Tel +91-4634-283884.
 

The fungal strains were isolated from the soil samples collected from Kodaikanal forest and it was inoculated with the Municipal Solid Waste collected from Alwarkurichi Town panchayat. The isolated fungal strains are Aspergillus species I, Aspergillus species II, Mucor species, Penicillium species I, Penicillium species II and Trichoderma species. During the decomposition process, there were gradual increase in pH, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total potassium. There was continuous increase in bacterial and fungal population up to middle of the composting period and attainment of fairly stable bacterial and fungal count in the final product of decomposition. The actinomycetes population increased continuously and reached stable count at the end of decomposition. The micronutrient content showed a steady increase from the beginning to the end. The heavy metal concentration has decreased during the period of composting. The significant changes (P<0.05) were observed in all the parameters. While comparing the efficiency of different fungal strains employed for bio-degradation of MSW, it has been found that the fungus Mucor species played a vital role to bring bio-degradation of MSW, when compared to other fungal strains. All the physico-chemical and biological parameters exhibited significant (P<0.05) changes in accordance with number of days of decomposition in all the treatments.

Key words: MSW, Mucor sp., Penicillium sp., Actinomycetes population, bio-composition.