SOIL BACTERIAL ISOLATE SHOWING A POTENTIAL OF MANCOZEB DEGRADATION AND PLANT GROWTH ENHANCEMENT

Abstract

Mancozeb, a dithiocarbamates pesticide, has been widely used for weed control. Despite mancozeb’s endurance and toxicity towards biological forms, its removal or degradation from contaminated area has become a concern, leading to bioremediation processes. From agricultural fields contaminated with pesticides, two bacterial strains, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PM3) and Rhizobium pusense (PM10) were identified that have the ability to degrade mancozeb. Within a 10-day timeframe, these isolates were able to break down between 97.49% and 98.99% of the mancozeb’s original concentration (100mg/L). In both sterilised and non-sterilised soils, these strains showed the ability to degrade mancozeb by 95-100% of their initial concentration (200mg/kg). These strains also exhibited notable characteristics that supported plant development, including the ability to solubilize phosphate, produce both indole acetic acid and ammonia in absence and presence of mancozeb. Mancozeb has shown detrimental influence on plant through plant growth experiments and cause a drop-in growth indicators, such as percentage germination, plant biomass and plant height. Inoculation of bacterial isolates with mancozeb was shown to considerably improve plant growth in terms of plant weight and plant length. This study revealed that mancozeb degrading strains have the potential to become a strong contender for increasing agricultural productivity in pesticide contaminated soils.