Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research 2676-3478 7 4 2019 10 01 Efficacy of Trichoderma fungal species in the removal of α-naphthol from potato dextrose agar media 233 240 95558 10.22102/jaehr.2019.126642.1072 EN Fariba Mohsenzadeh Department of Biology, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran Akram Ranjbar Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Hamedan University of Medical Science, Hamedan, Iran Journal Article 2018 04 10 Alpha-naphthol is a two-ring aromatic hydrocarbon with toxic and mutagenic properties. Bioremediation technology is considered to be an efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly approach to the remediation of the sites contaminated with <em>polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons</em>. In this study, six fungal species of the <em>Trichoderma</em> genus were cultured in potato dextrose agar (PDA) media containing 10-200 mg/kg of α-naphthol for the adaptation of the fungal strains. The removal of α-naphthol was assessed 30 days after the growth of the adapted fungal colonies at various concentrations of α-naphthol (50, 100, and 150 mg/kg). According to the obtained results, all the fungi could grow in the culture media containing α-naphthol, removing α-naphthol from the media. The highest removal efficiency belonged to <em>T. viridescens</em>, while the lowest removal efficiency belonged to <em>T. koningii. </em>In addition, the growth ability of the fungi was determined based on the colony diameters, and the results indicated the highest and lowest colony diameters in case of <em>T. koningii</em> and <em>T. viridescens, </em>respectively<em>.</em> In other words, an inverse correlation was observed between the fungal growth rate and α-naphthol removal efficiency. On the other hand, the results of enzyme activity assay demonstrated that the activity of peroxidase and catalase increased with higher α-naphthol contamination. The highest enzyme activity was observed in <em>T. viridescens, </em>growing in the media containing 150 mg/kg of α-naphthol, which indicated a marked correlation between α-naphthol removal efficiency and enzyme activity. Therefore, it could be concluded that <em>T. viridescens </em>had the highest enzyme activity and α-naphthol removal efficiency. α-Naphthol Pollution Trichoderma Bioremediation Enzymatic activity https://jaehr.muk.ac.ir/article_95558_d51656dda67009af4d34db106d3e2a75.pdf