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ABSTRACT
Solarization is a soil coverage technique by polyethylene films resulting in a mild soil sterilization from trapped solar energy. Such a technique is characterized by a significantly lower environmental impact than that caused by methyl bromide fumigation or other chemical treatments used to eliminate or reduce pathogenic fungi, nematodes, and weed seeds. This research was carried out to evaluate microbiological diversity on solarized soil in University of Benin Botanical garden. Three ridges of soil were solarized for two weeks between the periods of Day 0 to Day 14. Standard microbiological methods were used for isolation and enumeration of Bacteria and Fungi from solarized soil samples within a two-week period. Standard cultural morphological and biochemical tests were used to identify the Bacterial isolates from solarized soil. The results showed that heterotrophic Bacterial count of solarized soil range from the least to the highest (logw 3.57± 0.2cfu/g to logw 5.56±0.1cfu/g). The identify Bacterial isolates includes, Klebsiella aerogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Bacillus pumilus. The results showed that Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus were present in all solarize soil samples. Population of total Fungi and Bacteria, decreased drastically due to solarization in all the conditions as compare to non-solarized soils which indicates that this technique can be an effective physical strategy in controlling soil borne pathogens. Solarization is a new additional option to use and its scope and rate of dissemination in the future will depend on our capacity to both weigh its pros and cons and use it effectively.
