Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Characterization of Biotic and Abiotic Profiles of Greenhouse Evaporative Cooling System Fouling.

A A Nuhu¹ , S Ahmad²

¹Biology Programme,; ²Environmental Management Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Bauchi State, Nigeria..

For correspondence:- A Nuhu Email: aanuhu@yahoo.com Tel:+234-807-250-8912

Published: 20 September 2008

Citation: Nuhu AA, Ahmad S. Characterization of Biotic and Abiotic Profiles of Greenhouse Evaporative Cooling System Fouling.. Trop J Pharm Res 2008; 7(3):1043-1049 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v7i3.6

© 2008 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To characterize the microorganisms influencing greenhouse evaporative cooling system fouling as a prelude to designing a sustainable remediation scheme that would assist in reducing the heavy financial loss incurred by stakeholders due to deterioration of cooling pads.

Methods: Samples of biofilms on evaporative cooling system pads were collected from various locations in Saudi Arabia and fixed with 5% formaldehyde. Light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and QWIN software were employed for the identification of different morphometric parameters of the constituent microbes. pH and conductivity were assessed using Pasport PS-2102 and PS-2116 sensors, respectively.

Results: Different genera of cyanobacteria and diatom including Phormidium, Oscillatoria, Lyngbya, Navicula, Melosira and Gomphonema were identified and characterized, in addition to various types of bacteria and white crust fungus, Phanerochaete crysosporium. Total dissolved solids (TDS) values of 2641 ppm (conductivity, 5282 µS/cm) for Al-Rasheed, 2327.5 ppm (conductivity, 4655 µS/cm) for Sara, 3352 ppm (conductivity, 6704 µS/cm) for Dammam Municipality Greenhouse (DMG) and 61.5 ppm (conductivity, 123 µS/cm; pH 6.88) for KFUPM were obtained at 25^a02;C.

Conclusion: Various organisms, including cyanobacteria and diatoms, which have been implicated in the biofilms of evaporative cooling systems at different locations in Saudi Arabia, were characterized with the aid of morphometric parameters. Identifying the constituent microorganisms would aid in designing a sustainable remediation scheme that is expected to reduce the heavy financial cost incurred by stakeholders due to frequent replacement of evaporative cooling pads during routine maintenance.

Keywords: Cyanobacteria, Diatoms, Biofilms, Morphometric, Evaporative cooling.