International Science Community Association International Research Journal of Biological Sciences 2278-3202 7 11 2018 11 10 Isolation and screening of fungal strains for bioremediation of textile effluent 18 26 EN Sharma Arti 1 Department of Zoology, University of Jammu, J&K-180006, India Singh Radhika 2 Department of Zoology, University of Jammu, J&K-180006, India . Bandhana 3 Department of Zoology, University of Jammu, J&K-180006, India Sangotra Rashmi 4 Department of Zoology, University of Jammu, J&K-180006, India Abdullahi H.J. 1 Department of Biology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Alonge S.O. 2 Department of Biology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Zarafi A.B. 3 Department of Crop Protection, Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Sood Monika 1 Department of Microbiology, Dolphin (P.G) College of Science and Agriculture, Chunni Kalan-140307, Punjab, India Dolma Tanzin 2 Department of Microbiology, Dolphin (P.G) College of Science and Agriculture, Chunni Kalan-140307, Punjab, India Kaur Pardeep 3 Department of Microbiology, Dolphin (P.G) College of Science and Agriculture, Chunni Kalan-140307, Punjab, India > Research Paper 2018 7 28 2018 11 10 Among the various industrial effluents, textile and the dye industry waste play a significant role in water pollution. These dyes are toxic, mutagenic and carcinogen in nature and cause adverse effects on environment as well as on human health. The aim of the study was to isolate potential fungal strains implicated in bioremediation of dye based effluents. From a total of 14 fungal strains isolated from diverse habitats, only 5 strains were found to be positive for Azure B decolorization under solid state condition, with a maximum decolorization index of 2.3mm by fungal strain DW3. Under liquid state conditions, fungal strain CC3 resulted in maximum decolorization of 98.6% at 10th day of incubation. The morphological, cultural and microscopic characterization of potential fungal strain CC3 revealed it as Penicillium sp. The treatment of textile and synthetic effluent (mixture of three dyes Azure B, Congo red and Remazol brilliant blue) by Penicillium sp. CC3 resulted in maximum decolorization of 92.0% and 73.3% respectively. The seed germination bioassay using treated medium revealed a plumule length of 3.3cm which is almost equivalent to the length observed in the distilled water. Copyright@ International Science Community Association