Biological Activity of Autochthonic Bacterial Community in Oil-Contaminated Soil.

Agnieszka Wolińska,Natalia Jastrzębska,Anna Szafranek-Nakonieczna,Zofia Stępniewska,Agnieszka Kuźniar,Eliza Roguska

doi:10.1007/s11270-016-2825-z

Agnieszka Wolińska, Natalia Jastrzębska + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-016-2825-z

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Abstract

Soil microbial communities play an important role in the biodegradation of different petroleum derivates, including hydrocarbons. Also other biological factors such as enzyme and respiration activities and microbial abundance are sensitive to contamination with petroleum derivates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the response of autochthonic microbial community and biological parameters (respiration, dehydrogenase and catalase activities, total microorganisms count) on contamination with car fuels and engine oils. The surface layer (0–20 cm) of Mollic Gleysol was used for the experiment. In laboratory conditions, soil was contaminated with the following petroleum substances: car fuels (petrol, diesel) and car engine oils (new and waste—after 10,000 km). The results demonstrated that, among the investigated hydrocarbon substances, petrol addition seemed to be the most toxic for the microbial activity of the investigated soil. The toxicity of the used hydrocarbon substances to microorganisms might be summarized as follows: diesel > new oil > waste oil > petrol. Species belonging to the genera Micrococcus and Rhodococcus were noted as the major autochthonic bacteria being present in soil contaminated with new automobile oil, whereas species of the genera Bacillus sp. and Paenibacillus sp. were identified in the combination treated with waste oil.

Highlights

The intensive development of urbanization and mechanization is associated with increases in the environment contamination by petroleum and petroleum derivate products (Rusin et al 2015)
The addition of 5.0 g of petroleum substances led to a decrease in dehydrogenase activity (DHA) in comparison to the control value by 4.8, 31.5, and 65.5 % for waste oil, new oil, and petrol, respectively
We found that addition of car fuels and engine oil up to 5.0 g was usually not toxic to the overall microbial activity since hydrocarbons present in oil could be DHA

Summary

Introduction

The intensive development of urbanization and mechanization is associated with increases in the environment contamination by petroleum and petroleum derivate products (Rusin et al 2015). Oil derivates and car fuels can be regarded as composed of four major constituents: saturated hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, asphaltenes, and resins (Moubasher et al 2015; Ramadass et al 2015). Car oil consists of 90 % petroleum fractions and 10 % of other additives, i.e., antioxidants and detergents (Ramadass et al 2015); a particular danger for the soil environment is posed by used oil. It was reported that 1 L of used motor oil can pollute up to 3,784 m2 of soil, making it non-productive for farming

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