Abstract
Six fungal strains collected from decomposed woods in the Northern areas of Pakistan (Khanspur) were evaluated for their ability to decolorize pulp and paper production wastewater. All the strains, IPP01, IPP02, IPP03, IPP04, IPP05 and IPP06 were able to grow well in Kirk media with pulping wastewater containing lignin without glucose indicating that they could utilize lignin as nutrient. However, when they were tested for their effectiveness on decolourization of the wastewater from pulp and paper industry, it was indicated that strains IPP01, IPP04 and IPP06 were the most efficient strains able to decrease the color of the pulping wastewater by 47.8%, 47.2% and 47.0%, respectively. These strains were identified by basic morphology as Pleurotus sp (IPP01), Coriolus sp. (IPP04), and Phenerochaete sp (IPP06).
