Effect of Soil Physicochemical Parameters and Seasonal Variations on the Occurrence of Keratinophilic Fungi of Murtala Amusement Park in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Keratinophilic fungi are the prime cause of various mycotic infections among children. Murtala Amusement Park is one of the preferred recreation grounds in Minna. The aim of this research was to investigate the occurrence of fungal species at Murtala Amusement Park, Minna, with the goal of identifying keratinophilic species among them. A total of 360 soil samples from six different important sites in the Park were collected during dry and rainy seasons. A total of 542 isolates from eleven genera were identified; Aspergillus, Candida, Fusarium, Paecilomyces, Mucor, Chrysosporium, Alternaria, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Microsporum, and Rhizopus.  A total of 142 and 399 fungal isolates were isolated during dry and rainy seasons respectively. Out of the soil physicochemical parameters analyzed, only Ca and Mg showed significant correlation with a number of the fungal colony at 1 % and 5 % levels of significance respectively and it occurred during dry season. There was no association between the numbers of fungal isolates recorded across the two seasons. Maximum percentage of contribution was observed with Aspergillus niger in both seasons. While the minimum percentage of contribution was observed with Microsporum gypseum (1.40 %) and Paecilomyces variottii (2.51 %) during the rainy and dry seasons respectively. Simpson’s dominance of fungal species showed 10.86 and 9.84 for dry and rainy season respectively. Evenness of fungal species at dry and rainy seasons were 0.0759 and 0.0247 respectively. Diversity index of fungal species were 2.531 and 0.908 for Shannon’s Index and Simpson’s Index respectively. A very high incidence of keratinophilic fungi demonstrated in the soil of Murtala Amusement Park is a noteworthy finding for public health significance.