Chlorpyrifos degrading potential of a Bacterial isolate from Thermal Power Plant Soil

Abstract

The pesticides had a significant role in crop protection and in agricultural production. The organophosphate pesticides are used against many crop pests. But the injudicious application results in residues of organophosphate pesticides in soil routed to food chain by different means and affect the human health. There is a great need for remediation of the toxic residues from the environment. The microbial bioremediation is a safe and eco-friendly technique for pesticide removal. The present study focused on the degradation ability of a bacterium previously isolated from the soil contaminated with fly ash from coal based thermal power plant. The 16S rRNA sequencing confirmed the bacterium as Lysinibacillus fusiformis. The chlorpyrifos utilization capability of the isolated bacterium was studied in mineral salt medium supplemented with 50 mg L-1 chlorpyrifos as sole carbon source at 30oC and 120 rpm for 15 days. The bacterium was able to grow in the medium with the production of alkaline phosphatase and reduction in pH of the growth media. The bacterium degraded 16.54 percent of chlorpyrifos in 15 days. The chlorpyrifos utilization for bacterial biomass production confirmed the in situ biodegradation ability of the bacterium.