Selection of endophyte and indigenous bacteria degrading textile wastewater in floating treatment wetland

This study investigated endophytes and indigenous bacteria that are associated with the Vetiveria zizanioides plant to identify potential degrading bacteria for treating a high-loading textile wastewater. The Vetiveria zizanioides plants were cultivated in floating treatment wetlands and inoculated with a single strain of bacteria to treat the textile wastewater in a 500 mL glass tank. Bacterial performance in degrading contaminants in textile wastewater was examined by monitoring the floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) for period of 25 days and measuring the physicochemical parameters. The FTWs reactor containing only Vetiver zizanioides shows minimal plant growth and low chemical compound removal. FTWs reactor with Vetiveria zizanioides that was inoculated with Bacillus cereus and Stenotrophomonas malthophillia bacterial strains demonstrated better performance in terms of significantly higher COD (86.7%) and colour (65.3%) removal rates. Meanwhile, heavy metal removals were discovered that Vetiver zizanioides with Stenotrophomonas malthophillia strain had the highest removal of Pb (99.4%) and Cu (90.6%). When compared to other bacterial strains, the majority of heavy metals were accumulated in root tissue rather than shoot tissue in Vetiver zizanioides plants inoculated with Bacillus spizizenii. This study revealed that the Bacillus genera strains could tolerate plant stress caused by high organic load and and high concentrations of toxic contaminants, while accelerated plant growth during the treatment of textile wastewater. Further study is required to confirm the utilisation of selected bacteria strains to enhance the performance of wetland wastewater treatment and its system with various hydraulic loading rates for treating textile wastewater.