Журнал бактериологии и паразитологии

Абстрактный

Ecological and microbiological characteristics of the Jhelum River in the Kashmir Himalayas

Shugufta Jan, Imran Khan, Gowhar H. Dar, Azra N. Kamili and Irfan-ur-Rauf Tak

We assessed the density and diversity of bacterial load of a water body, the Jhelum River in the Kashmir Himalayas. Bacteria were isolated and identified and some physical parameters such as pH and temperature were measured between June and November 2011 at four sampling locations along the river. The highest bacterial count was observed at site IV, with CFU/ml of 2.0 × 103 in July. The lowest viable bacterial count was observed at site III, with CFU/ml of 0.3 × 103 in November. Among the different strains isolated, it was found that 73% of the isolated strains were Gram-negative and about 27% of the strains were Gram-positive. It was also observed that 5% of the strains were gram-positive cocci, 27% of the strains were gram-negative cocci, 15% were gram-positive bacilli and 34% were gram-negative bacilli. It was also found that 32% of the strains were cocci, 49% were bacilli, 12% of the strains were diplococci and 7% of the strains were streptococci. Comparative analysis of different colonies from four sampling sites shows that the highest bacterial density was achieved in July 2011.