Enhanced bioremediation of PAH-contaminated soil by wheat bran and microbial community response

Abstract

ABSTRACT Microcosms were set up containing a PAH polluted soil to investigate biostimulation (addition of wheat bran and fertilizer) and bioaugmentation (inoculation with Pseudomonas sp. SB). After 60 d the fertilizer + wheat bran gave the highest PAH degradation. The degradation rate was 42.2%, significantly higher than the 18.7% in the fertilizer only treatment. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) indicates that wheat bran treatment can significantly alter soil bacterial and fungal communities. In addition, wheat bran promoted the enrichment of some soil bacteria such as Bacillaceae, Xanthomonadaceae, Streptomycetaceae, and Chitinophagaceae, and the fungi Talaromyces, Humicola, unclassified_Chaetomiaceae and Mortierella. These results highlight the potential of wheat bran application to reduce the PAHs detected in soil.