Rhizosphere remediation of chlorpyrifos in mycorrhizospheric soil using ryegrass.

The potential of ryegrass for rhizosphere bioremediation of chlorpyrifos in mycorrhizal soil was investigated by the green house pot culture experiments. The pot cultured soil amended at initial chlorpyrifos concentration of 10mg/kg was observed to be degraded completely within 7 days where the rest amended concentrations (25-100mg/kg) decreased rapidly under the influence of ryegrass mycorrhizosphere as the incubation progressed till 28 days. This bioremediation of chlorpyrifos in soil is attributed to the microorganisms associated with the roots in the ryegrass rhizosphere, therefore the microorganisms surviving in the rhizospheric soil spiked at highest concentration (100mg/kg) was assessed and used for isolation of chlorpyrifos degrading microorganisms. The potential degrader identified by 16s rDNA analysis using BLAST technique was Pseudomonas nitroreducens PS-2. Further, bioaugmentation for the enhanced chlorpyrifos biodegradation was performed using PS-2 as an inoculum in the experimental set up similar to the earlier. The heterotrophic bacteria and fungi were also enumerated from the inoculated and non-inoculated rhizospheric soils. In bioaugmentation experiments, the percentage dissipation of chlorpyrifos was 100% in the inoculated rhizospheric soil as compared to 76.24, 90.36 and 90.80% in the non-inoculated soil for initial concentrations of 25, 50 and 100mg/kg at the 14th, 21st and 28th day intervals respectively.