2.3. W1 treatment by nine fungal strains
Fungi were inoculated as 20 agar plugs (5 mm of diameter), taken from the edge of an actively growing colony on MEA, in 500 ml flasks containing 200 ml of a high nitrogen content medium as previously described (Anastasi et al., 2010). The flasks were incubated in agitated conditions (130 rpm) at 28 C. After 7 days, the culture broths were replaced with 100 ml of W1. In addition, in order to compare the effectiveness of the fungal treatment with the secondary treatment used in the plant, a line (AS) containing the effluent (100 ml) and 20 ml of sedimented AS was set up. An abiotic control (without fungal inoculum) was included and each trial was performed in triplicate. Due to the high number of strains, a composite
sample from the three replicates was produced in order to perform the analysis of decolourisation, COD, enzymes activity and detoxification as described in the following paragraphs.