SOILS, SEC 1 • SOIL ORGANIC MATTER DYNAMICS AND NUTRIENT CYCLING • RESEARCH ARTICLE Effective bioremediation of heavy metal–contaminated landfill soil through bioaugmentation using consortia of fungi Auwalu Hassan 1,2,3 & Agamuthu Periathamby 1,2 & Aziz Ahmed 1,2,4 & Ossai Innocent 1,2 & Fauziah Shahul Hamid 1,2 Received: 25 March 2019 /Accepted: 5 July 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Purpose Heavy metals’ contamination of soil is a serious concern as far as public health and environmental protection are concerned. As a result of their persistent and toxic properties, heavy metals need to be removed from contaminated environments using an efficient technology. This study is aimed to determine the heavy metals’ (Ni, Pb, and Zn) bioremoval capacity of consortia of filamentous fungi from landfill leachate-contaminated soil. Materials and methods Three different groups of consortia of fungi, namely all isolated fungi, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota, were employed for the bioremediation of the contaminated soil. A total of thirteen fungal species were used to make up the three consortia. The setup was kept for 100 days during which regular watering was carried out. Soil subsamples were collected at day 20, day 60, and 100 for monitoring of heavy metal concentration, fungal growth, and other physicochemical parameters. Results and discussion Highest tolerance index of 1.0 was recorded towards Ni and Zn concentrations. The maximum metal bioremoval efficiency was observed for soil bioaugmented with the all isolated fungi for Ni and Pb with the removal efficiencies as 52% and 44% respectively. However, 36% was realized as the maximum removal for Zn, and was for Ascomycota consortium- treated soil. The order for the heavy metal removal for Ni and Pb is all isolated fungi > Basidiomycota > Ascomycota, while for Zn is Basidiomycota > all isolated fungi > Ascomycota. Spectra analysis revealed the presence of peaks (1485–1445 cm -1 ) only in the consortia-treated soil which corresponded to the bending of the C–H bond which signifies the presence of methylene group. Conclusions Soil treated using bioaugmentation had the best heavy metal removal as compared to that of the control. This suggests the contribution of fungal bioaugmentation in the decontamination of heavy metal–contaminated soil. Keywords Bioaugmentation . Consortia . Contamination . Fungi . Heavy metals . Soil 1 Introduction Generation of waste is a normal phenomenon that is attached to the capital and human development, socio-economic dyna- mism, as well as, industrialization. When the unavoidable generation of waste is regarded as harmful to the environment, it becomes necessary to develop alternative waste manage- ment technologies that do not only dispose the waste but also ensure the safety and sustainability of the environment. In spite of the fact that, many waste management options are available; however, the use of landfills still remains the most widely used technique (Long et al. 2018; Eman et al. 2019). In fact, in many Asian countries specifically Malaysia, more than 360 landfills are currently in used as the main disposal options (Fauziah et al. 2013). Landfills accommodate almost all kinds of items in solid waste stream, and in most of the times, mu- nicipal solid waste (MSW) is the most significantly handled Responsible editor: Huaiying Yao Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02394-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Auwalu Hassan auwalhssn@gmail.com * Fauziah Shahul Hamid fauziahsh@um.edu.my 1 Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Center for Research in Waste Management, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Federal University, Kashere, Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria 4 Faculty of Marine Sciences, Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Uthal, Balochistan, Pakistan Journal of Soils and Sediments https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02394-4