Kerosene contaminated soil was obtained from four different locations in Calabar while pristine
soil served as control. Bacterial species isolated from kerosene contaminated soil samples included species of
Bacillus
,
Pseudomonas
,
Micrococcus
and
Serratia
while bacteria isolated from pristine soil samples comprised of
species of
Streptococcus
,
Salmonella
,
Escherichia coli
,
Staphylococcus aureus
,
Bacillus,
Serratia,
Micrococcus
and
Pseudomonas. Similar fungal species which included species of
Aspergillus
,
Penicillium
,
Mucor
,
Rhizopus
,
and
Fusarium
were isolated from both chronic kerosene contaminated and pristine soil samples. There was no
significant difference (p
≥
0.05) in heterotrophic bacteria (HTB), fungal (HTF) and kerosene utilizing fungal counts
(KUF) between chronic kerosene contaminated and pristine soil samples. However, there was significant
difference (p≤0.05) between kerosene utilizing bacteria (KUB) between chronic kerosene contaminated and
pristine samples. This revealed that long-term kerosene slippage had a selecting effect on soil bacteria as opposed
to soil fungal.
