Groundwater in the coastal areas of Ghana: Quality and associated health risks.

Self-supply water sources, particularly groundwater sources, play key roles in the water supply ecosystem of developing countries. Recent studies indicate that groundwater sources in coastal communities in Ghana are under threat from improper waste management practices, seawater intrusion and atmospheric aerosol deposition. In this study, Water Quality Index (WQI) and Nemerow's Pollution Index (NPI) were employed to assess groundwater quality in four coastal communities of Ghana. The health risks associated with metal pollution of groundwater were investigated using incremental life cancer risk and hazard quotient. pH of groundwater in all the studied communities were acidic during the rainy season. Electrical conductivity ranged from 0.44 to 2.61 mS/cm in the rainy season and from 0.43 to 2.45 mS/cm in the dry season for the four studied locations. Results also showed brackish conditions and mineralization of groundwater in Winneba, Accra, and Keta. Mean nitrate concentrations in Winneba and Accra were higher than the WHO standards for both the rainy and the dry season. Arsenic was higher than the acceptable level in Accra and Keta during the dry season, while iron was higher than the acceptable levels in Accra in both the rainy and dry seasons. Principal Component Analyses showed that Pb, As, and Fe had the highest loading in the first component in Essiama, while PO4 3-and Pb had the highest loading in the second component in Accra. WQI showed that the quality of groundwater in all the studied communities ranged from marginal to poor indicating that groundwater in the coastal communities often or usually departs from desirable quality. NPI revealed that NO3- , As, and Fe contribute to groundwater deterioration. Health risk assessment showed that As posed a high cancer risk in Accra and potential cancer risk in Essiama, Winneba, and Keta during the dry season. As also posed potential cancer risk in Accra during the rainy season. Non-cancer health risk was observed for As in Accra and Keta. The findings of this study suggest urgent regulations and monitoring strategies to improve groundwater quality in the coastal communities of Ghana.

Seasonal variations and health risk assessment of microbial contaminations of groundwater in selected coastal communities of Ghana.

This study investigated seasonal variations in microbial contaminations of groundwater and associated health risks in four coastal communities (Essiama, Winneba, Accra, and Keta) in Ghana. Membrane filtration methods, sanitary risk inspection, and quantitative microbial risk assessment were employed, respectively, to (i) quantify bacteriological quality, (ii) identify risks to contamination, and (iii) assess health risks associated with Escherichia coli in groundwater. Results showed 70.00%, 53.33%, 70.37% and 90.00% of groundwater sources in Essiama, Winneba, Accra, and Keta, respectively, were at intermediate risk, whereas 3.33%, 40.00%, 14.81%, and 3.33%, respectively, were at high risk. Very high-risk levels of contamination were recorded only in Accra. The presence of animal wastes within a 10 m radius of groundwater collection point, bad drainage systems, collection of spilt water in apron area, the use of ropes and buckets when fetching groundwater, and absence of aprons and well covers put more than 60.00% of the groundwater points in two or more locations at risk of contaminations. Assessment of bacteriological quality of groundwater indicated that mean total coliforms and E. coli ranged, respectively, between 123.40-501.30 and 30.98-141.90 CFU/100 ml for the communities; the highest microbial counts for dry and wet seasons occurred in Winneba and Keta, respectively. Seasonal variations in E. coli counts in Winneba and Accra were significantly higher in the dry season than in the wet season; Essiama and Keta showed no significant seasonal variations. Exposure to E. coli O157:H7 through drinking groundwater ranged between 5 and 23 cells per day. Although exposure to E. coli O157:H7 through bathing was less than 1 cell per day in all communities, residents were exposed to one E. coli, at least, every 62, 141, 237, and 282 days in Winneba, Accra, Keta, and Essiama, respectively. The risk of infection and illness for all communities was 1 for drinking, whereas that for bathing ranged from 0.57 to 0.98. The estimated Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) exceeded the WHO-acceptable DALY. These findings show that groundwater resources in the selected coastal communities were prone to microbial contaminations, and this may be a setback to Sustainable Development Goals 6. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Assessment of environmental degradation in two coastal communities of Ghana using Driver Pressure State Impact Response (DPSIR) framework.

In this study, a qualitative research method using Driver Pressure State Impact Response (DPSIR) framework was employed to assess the drivers of environmental degradation and their implications on Anlo and Sanwoma coastal communities in the Western Region of Ghana. Pollution Index (PI) and Environmental Risk Factor (ERF) were estimated in Pra and Ankobra estuaries, respectively, in Anlo and Sanwoma communities to complement the qualitative assessment in the studied coastal communities. The state and condition of the coastal ecosystems are critical to the well-being and livelihood of the residents of the two coastal communities. Therefore, it was important to assess the drivers of environmental degradation and their consequences on the coastal communities. The findings showed that the coastal communities were severely degraded and were in a vulnerable state due to the impact of drivers such as gold mining, farming, improper waste disposal, and illegal fishing that pressurize the environment. Also, PI and ERFs showed that the estuaries in Anlo and Sanwoma coastal communities were contaminated with metals such as arsenic, lead, zinc, and iron. Some of the impacts of the environmental degradation on the communities included reduction in fish catch and health-related ailments among the residents of the two communities. Unfortunately, regulatory policies by government and efforts of non-governmental organisations and members of the two coastal communities to address the environmental issues have not yielded the desired results. It is recommended that there should be urgent interventions by policymakers to stop further degradations in the coastal communities to enhance the well-being and livelihoods of the residents of Anlo and Sanwoma.

Valorization of agro-industrial wastes into animal feed through microbial fermentation: A review of the global and Ghanaian case.

Agricultural and industrial activities around the world lead to the production of large quantities of agro-industrial wastes (e.g., peels of cassava, pineapple, plantain, banana, and yam, as well as rice husks, rice bran , corn husks, corn cobs, palm kernel cake, soybean meal, wheat bran, etc.). These agro-industrial wastes are discarded indiscriminately, thereby polluting the environment and becoming hazardous to human and animal health. Solid-state fermentation (SSF), a microbial fermentation process, is a viable, efficient approach that transforms discarded agro-industrial wastes into a plethora of useful value-added bioproducts. There is growing interest in the application of SSF in valorizing agro-industrial wastes for the production of fermented, protein-rich animal feed within the livestock industry. SSF reduces anti-nutritional factors whose presence hinders the digestibility and bioavailability of nutrients in agro-industrial wastes. Thus, the application of SSF improves the nutrient contents and quality of valorized agro-industrial wastes as animal feed. Fermented animal feed production may be safer, cheaper and enhance the overall growth performance and health of animals. SSF, therefore, as a strategic approach in a circular bioeconomy, presents economic and practical advantages that guarantee efficient recycling and valorization of agro-industrial wastes that ameliorate environmental pollution. This paper reviews the status of global and local Ghanaian biotransformation and valorization of agro-industrial wastes through SSF for the production of nutrient-rich animal feed.

Application of solid-state fermentation by microbial biotechnology for bioprocessing of agro-industrial wastes from 1970 to 2020: A review and bibliometric analysis.

This paper reviews the pertinent literature from 1970 to 2020 and presents a bibliometric analysis of research trends in the application of solid-state fermentation in the bioprocessing of agro-industrial wastes. A total 5630 publications of studies on solid-state fermentation that comprised of 5208 articles (92.50%), 340 book chapters (6.04%), 39 preprints (0.69%), 32 proceedings (0.56%), 8 edited books (0.14%) and 3 monographs (0.05%) were retrieved from Dimensions database. A review of the literature indicated that (i) fermentation of solid substrates is variously defined in the literature over the past 50 years, where "solid-state fermentation" is the most dominant research term used, and (ii) key products derived from the valorization of agro-industrial wastes through solid-state fermentation include, among others, enzymes, antioxidants, animal feed, biofuel, organic acids, biosurfactants, etc. Bibliometric analyses with VOSviewer revealed an astronomic increase in publications between 2000 and 2020, and further elucidated the most frequently explored core research topics, the most highly cited publications and authors, and countries/regions with the highest number of citations. The most cited publication between 2010 and 2020 had 382 citations compared to 725 citations for the most cited publication from 1970 to 2020. Ashok Pandey from India was the most published and cited author with 123 publications and 8,613 citations respectively; whereas Bioresource Technology was the most published and cited journal with 233 publications and 12,394 citations. Countries with the most publications and citations are Brazil, France, India, and Mexico. These findings suggest that research in the application of solid-state fermentation for bioprocessing of agro-industrial wastes has gained prominence over the past 50 years. Future perspectives and implications are discussed.

Biotechnological Application of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus delbrueckii sp. bulgaricus for Protein Enrichment of Fermented Unmalted and Malted Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench).

This study evaluated changes in protein contents of malted and unmalted sorghum, and their formulated blends, after fermentation for 10 days at 25°C with mono and cocultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus delbrueckii sp. bulgaricus. Fermentation of unmalted and malted sorghum and their formulated blends of 1 : 1 (w/w), 3 : 1 (w/w), and 1 : 3 (w/w) by S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus could increase their protein contents. Thus, there was an increase in protein content of fermented, malted sorghum by 68.40% for S. cerevisiae, 34.98% for L. bulgaricus, and 76.59% for cocultures of S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus; protein contents of fermented, unmalted sorghum also increased by 58.20, 39.36, and 55.00% for monoculture of S. cerevisiae, monoculture of L. bulgaricus, and coculture of S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus, respectively. S. cerevisiae was more effective in enriching protein content of the 1 : 3 (w/w) formulated blend of unmalted-malted sorghum by 77.59%; L. bulgaricus was more effective in enriching protein content of the 3 : 1 (w/w) unmalted-malted sorghum blend by 60.00%; coculture of S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus enriched the protein content of 3 : 1 (w/w) unmalted-malted sorghum substrate by 44.54%. Significant (p ≤ 0.05) increases in fat with corresponding decreases in carbohydrate and fibre contents were consistently recorded in malted and unmalted sorghum. In the formulated blends of sorghum, fat, carbohydrate, and fibre contents either increased or decreased erratically after fermentation. There were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher protein contents in malted sorghum, compared to unmalted sorghum. These findings show that solid-state microbial fermentation technology, using S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus, either as mono- or coculture, could effectively enrich the protein contents of unmalted and malted sorghum and their formulated blends. The implications of the findings for infant and adult nutrition are discussed, and future work to augment findings is suggested.

Biomechanics of invasive growth by Armillaria rhizomorphs.

Rhizomorphs of wood-decay basidiomycetes are root-like structures produced by the coordinated growth of thousands of hyphae. Very little is known about their development nor the way that they penetrate soils and rotting wood. In this study, we applied techniques used in previous studies on hyphae to explore the mechanics of the invasive growth process in Armillaria gallica. Growth rate measurements were made in media with different gel strengths. The osmolyte composition of rhizomorph sap was determined spectroscopically and the forces exerted by growing tips were measured using a force transducer. Cultured rhizomorphs extended at much faster rates than unbundled hyphae (3.5mmd(-1) versus 1.5mmd(-1)) and their growth accelerated in response to increased medium gel strength (to 7.4mmd(-1)). Measurements of rhizomorph osmolality provided a turgor pressure estimate of 760kPa (7.5atm.), and spectroscopic analysis showed that this pressure was generated by the accumulation of erythritol, mannitol, and KCl. Forces exerted by growing tips ranged from 1 to 6mN, corresponding to pressures of 40-300kPa (0.4-3.0atm.). Pressures exerted by extending rhizomorphs are comparable to those produced by individual vegetative hyphae. This suggests that the mechanical behavior of hyphae is similar whether they grow as unbundled cells or aggregate to form macroscopic rhizomorphs.

The fastest flights in nature: high-speed spore discharge mechanisms among fungi.

BACKGROUND: A variety of spore discharge processes have evolved among the fungi. Those with the longest ranges are powered by hydrostatic pressure and include "squirt guns" that are most common in the Ascomycota and Zygomycota. In these fungi, fluid-filled stalks that support single spores or spore-filled sporangia, or cells called asci that contain multiple spores, are pressurized by osmosis. Because spores are discharged at such high speeds, most of the information on launch processes from previous studies has been inferred from mathematical models and is subject to a number of errors. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we have used ultra-high-speed video cameras running at maximum frame rates of 250,000 fps to analyze the entire launch process in four species of fungi that grow on the dung of herbivores. For the first time we have direct measurements of launch speeds and empirical estimates of acceleration in these fungi. Launch speeds ranged from 2 to 25 m s(-1) and corresponding accelerations of 20,000 to 180,000 g propelled spores over distances of up to 2.5 meters. In addition, quantitative spectroscopic methods were used to identify the organic and inorganic osmolytes responsible for generating the turgor pressures that drive spore discharge. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The new video data allowed us to test different models for the effect of viscous drag and identify errors in the previous approaches to modeling spore motion. The spectroscopic data show that high speed spore discharge mechanisms in fungi are powered by the same levels of turgor pressure that are characteristic of fungal hyphae and do not require any special mechanisms of osmolyte accumulation.