INTRODUCTION:

The coir industry is one of the major agro-based industries of the state contributing notable job opportunities to the rural communities. Coirpith, industry require a large amount of water and consequently generates an equally large quantity of waste water, which contains 27.8% of cellulose, 28.5% of lignin and 8.12% of soluble tannin like phenolic compounds (Vinodhini et al., 2006). The effluent generated from the coir industry is acidic, also contains phenolic compounds and other toxic substances.

The enumerations of different microbes were also carried out. Coir is a 100% organic naturally occurring fiber derived from a renewable resource namely, coconut [Cocos nucifera] husk. Coir fibers resemble the wood fibers in terms of physical properties and chemical composition.

Hard and the strongest among all natural fibers, it can be spun and woven into different types of matting and mats. Coir geotextiles have been designed and developed in various forms depending upon the uses of the end product. Coir fibers have been also converted into non woven felt by using the needled felt technology. Coir nettings and coir needled felt have been utilized for developing various end use products in the field of soil bioengineering which includes road embankment protection, river/canal bank protection (Jose et al, 2006), slope protection, application in rural unpaved roads and other non conventional uses, besides erecting mud walls for protection of high velocity stream banks. Geotextiles made out of coir are ideally suited for low cost applications because coir is available in abundance. Only 36% of available coconut husks in India are used for extraction of coir. Therefore there is enough scope to enhance its application. Coir geotextiles are found to provide protection against soil erosion to the various types of slopes that has been demonstrated and documented by the Coir Board, Govt. of India (George Joseph and Sarma, 1997). The ability of coir fibers to absorb water and to degrade with time is its prime properties, which give it an edge over synthetic geotextiles for erosion control purposes.

An attempt was made to find the physico-chemical properties of the waste water from the coir industry.

Materials And Methods:

Sample collection:

Coir pith effluent sample was collected from Sivasakthi Coir Industry, Mannargudi, Thiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu, India. Effluent samples were collected in large sterilized bottles and brought to the laboratory.

Cyanobacterial samples were collected at different places from the discharge site, along with effluent in polythene bags.

Physico-chemical analysis:

Physico-chemical characteristics were done on the same day were brought to the laboratory. Physico-chemical analysis of the effluent was carried out according to standard methods of American Public Health Association (APHA, 1992).

Isolation of Bacteria and Fungi:

The total bacterial and fungal populations present in the samples were enumerated following the serial dilution method (Aneja, 1993). Nutrient Agar (NA) and Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) were used for isolation of bacteria and fungi. The bacteria were identified based on colony characteristics, Gram staining methods and by various biochemical studies as given by Bergey’s (1974) Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. The fungi were identified by using standard manuals, such as Manual of Soil Fungi (Gillman, 1957), Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes (Ellis, 1971), More Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes (Ellis, 1976) and Hyphomycetes (Subramanian, 1971).

Isolation of Cyanobacteria:

Standard microbiological methods were followed for the isolation of cyanobacteria. Algal samples were microscopically examined and plated on BG11 medium. Identification of algal forms was made with the help of keys given by Desikachary (1959) and Geitler (1932).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Physico-chemical properties of coir industry waste water:

The physico-chemical analysis of the effluent showed its slightly acidic nature and also the presence of high quantity of both organic as well as inorganic nutrients (Table 1). The value of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) was low which indicated that the highly obnoxious condition. The BOD and COD level of the effluent were 240 and 482 mg/L. Though BOD and COD level of the effluent were high as compared to IS Standard, their levels were not so much high. There was no carbonate in the effluent but fairly high level of free CO₂and bicarbonate was recorded as 128 mg/L and 150 mg/L, respectively (Table 1).

In this investigation, nutrient such as nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, calcium, magnesium and chloride were recorded. Nitrite, ammonia and chloride content were higher than other nutrients recorded (Table 2 and Figure 1).

Table 1: Physico-chemical properties of coir industry effluent

S. No.	Parameters	Sample
1	Colour	Brownish yellow
2	P^H	6.2
3	Temperature	27°C
4	Free carbon-di-oxide	120
5	Carbonate	nil
6	Bicarbonate	150
7	BOD	240
8	COD	482
9	Dissolved Oxygen	3.6
10	Total phosphorus	56
11	Inorganic phosphate	38
12	Organic phosphate	18

Except pH and Temperature all other characteristics are mg/L.

Figure 1: Nutrient availability in coir industry effluent

Table 2: Nutrient availability in coir industry effluent

S. No.	Nutrients	Sample (mg/L)
1	Nitrate	278
2	Nitrite	52
3	Ammonia	512
4	Calcium	96.7
5	Magnesium	19.67
6	Chloride	330.9

Microbial population in coir industry effluent:

Table 3 shows the different types of microorganisms that dwell in the waste water namely bacteria, fungi and algae. It was observed that Cyanophycean members dominated in the effluent stream (Table 3). Among the genera, Oscillatoria (6 species) and Phormidium (3 species) have been dominating in the effluent. This is attributed to favourable conditions of oxidizable organic matter, less DO and high calcium content (Table 1 and 2) an observation which supports Rao (1955). The cyanophyceae grow luxuriously with great variety and abundance in ponds rich in calcium (Munawar, 1970).

The total number of fungal isolates distributed in 3 different genera were isolated and identified among the genera, Aspergillus with 8 species, was found to be dominant genus. Kousar et al. (2000) isolated 23 species from dye effluent, polluted habit with Aspergillus as the dominant genus. The 8 different species of bacteria were isolated (Table 3). Further, effluent are rich in nutrients due to the loading of organic wastes, they afford ideal habitats for different microorganisms including algae, fungi and bacteria.

Table 3: Microbial population in coir industry effluent

Bacteria

Fungi

Cyanobacteria

Escherichia coli

Enterobacter aerogenes

Lactobacillus sp.

Pseudomonas putida

Pseudomonas fluorescens

Proteus vulgaris

Klebsiella pneumoniae

Salmonella sp.

Aspergillus flavus

Aspergillus fumigatus

Aspergillus luchuensis

Aspergillus nidulans

Aspergillus niger

Aspergillus terreus

Aspergillus sulphureus

Aspergillus ustus

Fusarium oxysporum

Penicillium citrinum

Synechococcus elongates

Microcystis aeruginosa

Aphanothece pallida

Chroococcus minor

Oscillatoria acuminata

Oscillatoria earlei

Oscillatoria laete-virens

Oscillatoria subbrevis

Oscillatoria salina

Oscillatoria willei

Phormidium anomala

Phormidium corium

Phormidium tenue

Lyngbya confervoides

Lyngbya martensiana

Coir pith is biologically active. In addition to providing an environment for plant roots, they also support a diverse population of microorganisms. These organisms obtain energy from cellulose and other carbon based compounds in the mix and competes with the plant roots for nutrients, moisture and oxygen. The vast majority of these organisms are not pathogenic and their presence near the roots can be beneficial in a number of ways such as in suppressing of the development and proliferation of soil borne diseases. This is achieved by competing for food and space. In most instances, the pathogen is restrained by the sheer force of numbers of the friendly or beneficial organisms.

REFERENCES:

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2. APHA 1992.Standard Methods for the examination of water and waste water, 18th edn., American Public Health Association, Washington D.C.

3. Buchanan, R.E and Gibbons, N.E., 1974. Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacterialogy.

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15. Vinodhini, S., Padmadevi, S.N and Padma Srinivasan, 2006. Biodegradation of lignocellulosic coir pith by using fungal forms, Asian J. Microbiol .Biotech. Env.sci, 8(3):499-502.

Received on 07.06.2011 Accepted on 15.06.2011

Asian J. Res. Pharm. Sci. 1(2): April-June 2011; Page 44-46

*Corresponding Author E-mail: chola_rajan2000@yahoo.com