The effect of Ralstonia pickettii bacterium addition on methylene blue dye biodecolorization by brown-rot fungus Daedalea dickinsii

Methylene blue (MB) is one of synthetic dyes that is used in the textile industry which is difficult to degrade in nature. Previously, the brown-rot fungus (BRF) Daedalea dickinsii had shown a good ability to degrade MB, however, the decolorization ability was relatively still low and had a long period of incubation. Therefore, improvement of process is needed to increase the ability of D. dickinsii to decolorize MB. In this study, the effect of Ralstonia pickettii bacterium addition on MB biodecolorization by the BRF D. dickinsii in potato dextrose broth (PDB) medium was investigated. The amount of R. picketti that was added to the culture of D. dickinsii were 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mL (1 mL ≈ 1.39 × 10⁸ CFU). The cultures had ability to decolorize MB (100 mg/L) at 30 °C after 7 days incubation. The highest percentage of MB biodecolorization was obtained at addition of 10 mL of R. pickettii approximately 89%, while biodecolorization process by particularly D. dickinsii was approximately 17%. The MB degradation metabolites by mixed cultures of D. dickinsii and 10 mL of R. pickettii were Azure A, thionine, glucose-MB, C₁₂H₁₁N₃SO₆ and C₁₂H₁₃N₃O₆. This study indicated that the addition of R. pickettii could enhance MB biodecolorization by fungus D. dickinsii. Besides that, this study also indicated that mixed cultures of D. dickinsii and R. pickettii has great potential for high efficiency, fast and cheap dye wastewater treatment.