Soil fungi, Aspergillus niger NAAC, as environmental pollution clean-up agent against Progesterone: Remediation strategy and preparation of Bioformulation

Abstract

The presence of hormones, drugs and chemicals in the environment are disrupting the ecosystem. The existence of chemicals in the environment is a threat to the ecosystem as they have dangerous effects on animals, plants and microbes. Progesterones are steroid hormones used for human contraceptives and therapeutic purposes as well as promoting animal growth. The cases of consumption of progesterone for medical purposes are much higher than estrogens, however, much studies related to estrogens have been conducted thereby neglecting the effects of progesterone. This invention focuses on removal of progesterone using fungal strain. Aspergillus niger NAAC efficiently degraded the progesterone content and transformed it into non-toxic end product. The uniqueness of this study involves preparation of a formulated product which would store the fungal strain and maintain its viability. The bioformulation was prepared using used vegetable cooking oil mixed with water as carrier. The bioformulation would reduce the efforts required to isolate the microorganism for regular usage and can be commercialized for large scale applications. To determine the storage conditions of bioformulation, various parameters were analysed which showed that storing the formulation in air tight container at room temperature would result in maximum longevity of the efficient strain.