Decolorization study of reactive dye Orange M2R by four fungal strains, Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, A. oryzae, A. terrus and their consortia were carried out using Czapek Dox broth containing 200mg/l of Orange M2R. The effects of physiochemical parameters (carbon source, temperature, pH, shaking vs static) on the decolorization potential of Aspergilli and their consortia was investigated. The fungal consortia have maximum decolorization (89.35±0.63%) with sucrose as carbon source followed by glucose (83.08±1.02%), A. niger decolorized maximally (81.37±0.35%) in sucrose containing medium. It was found that shaking favored the dye decolorization effectiveness of all tested aspergilli as well as their consortia. The effect of initial pH was also tested and found that highest decolorization showed by fungal consortia (91.84±0.91%) at an alkaline pH 8, but A. flavus showed maximum decolorization (83.36±0.63%) at acidic pH 5 and A. niger (80.10±0.59%) at pH 6. Effect of incubation temperature had a significant role in the degradation of dye; fungal consortia (93.61±0.79%) showed maximum decolorization at 35°C; A. niger and A. oryzae showed optimum decolorization at 30°C. The study confirmed the potential of the above fungi and their consortia in the decolorization of Orange M2R and opened up scope for future analysis of their performance in the treatment of textile effluent.
