The Physico-chemical Properties and Microbial Isolates of Cross River State Estuary Soils Bello O. S. & Ukut E.G (2015). The Physico-chemical Properties and Microbial Isolates of Cross River State Estuary Soils. Mayfair Journal of Soil Science 1(1), 15-27
Abstract
This study attempted to determine the physico-chemical properties and microbial isolates of estuary Soils in Cross River State. Four soil samples were collected from the estuaries area (Ikang, Atimbo Bridge, Unical Creek) of southern part of Cross River State as the study area. A composite sample was collected from each of the topsoil surface (0-20cm) using soil Auger. Some physico-chemical properties viz., particle size, pH, organic carbon, N, P, Ca, Mg, K, Na, H, Al, ECEC, BS and microbial flora population were determined using standard physico-chemical and biological methods. Results showed that there was a high sand content in Ikang and Atimbo than Unical Creek. Results also showed that most of the chemical properties were low to medium but Mg contents were high in all the samples. The highest microbial population of bacteria and fungi was 79 x 106 and 22 x 103 respectively. The bacteria microbes identified were Cyanobacterium spp, Nocardia spp and Nostoc spumigerna, while that of fungi were penicillium spp, Aspergillus flavus, fusarium spp and Rhizopus spp. Results depicted that the microbial populations in estuary of Cross River State were not very high.