The 'two-phase closed bottle test'--a suitable method for the determination of 'ready biodegradability' of poorly soluble compounds.

The Two-Phase Closed Bottle test (BODIS test) is a cost-effective supplement of the existing OECD tests for ready biodegradability (OECD 301) due to its entire compatibility with them and its particular suitability for testing poorly soluble compounds. The comparison of a number of test data from this and other ready biodegradability tests showed that the BODIS test has a similar stringency in terms of the attainment of the pass level and the time window criterion as well. A significant influence of the strength of the bacterial inoculum on the test results was not observed.