Oil Destructive Activity of Fungi Isolated from the Soils of the Kola Peninsula

Oil-degrading microorganisms were isolated from the soil contaminated by oil products (diesel fuel, masut, gas condensate, used engine oil etc.). The effectiveness of bacterial, fungal and bacteria-fungi associations for soil cleaning from oil products in laboratory and field model experiments was estimated. The bacteria-fungi association (bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens, P. putida, P. baetica, Microbacterium paraoxydans and fungi Penicillium commune, P. canescens st. 1, P. simplicissimum st. 1) is found to be the most effective in degrading oil products in laboratory conditions. The oil product degradation is found to be 38% of the initial amount (to 2.96 g/l) after 3 days, and 94% (to 0.21 g/l) after 10 days. The bacteria-fungi association has demonstrated the best result as compared to either bacterial or fungal associations in the field experiment as well: during 120 days oil products content was reduced by 82% (to 12.04 g oil/kg soil). Oil products decomposition rate after 30 and 120 days was maximum. Associations of oil-degrading native microorganisms in Al-Fe humus podzols of Kola Peninsula accelerate the oil product decomposition by 10-20% and are advised for environment post-cleaning from oil hydrocarbons. The soils of the Kola Peninsula are predominantly acid soils, therefore, the efficiency of fungi-containing biopreparations will likely be higher than that of bacterial preparation.