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Evaluation of microorganism resistant to heavy metal isolated from contaminated water and soil used in the agriculture sector in Ecuador

Abstract:

Research was conducted to evaluate microorganism isolated from contaminated water and soil from an agricultural sector in Ecuador. The study was done in Cunchibamba were horticultural crop grows and the irrigation is taken from the water canal Latacunga-Salcedo-Ambato. This canal is polluted, most of its water is residual water which are effluents of hospitals, agricultural sector and factories; a small quantity of water comes from the snowy mountain, Cotopaxi. There is a need to have clean water and improve crop production. In this study, microorganisms collected from the water canal were isolated and purified. A total of forty bacteria were evaluated, gram staining and resistance assays were done to the strains. Solutions of mercury (II) oxide (HgO), chromium (III) oxide (Cr2O3), copper (II) sulfate (CuSO4), zinc chloride (ZnCl2), nickel (II) sulfate (NiSO4), cadmium chloride (CdCl2) were used to determine the bacteria that was resistant to metal. It was determined that the bacteria had similar growth and metal resistance for the two methods used, strains were resistant to mercury (Hg), Chromium(Cr) and Zinc (Zn) for the liquid and solid assays. Future studies include variation of metals concentration, pH resistance assays and identification of bacteria applying biomolecular techniques.