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The impact of novel bacterial strains and their consortium on diflufenican degradation in the mineral medium and soil

Summary

Scientists isolated four types of bacteria from agricultural soil that can break down diflufenican, a persistent weed-killer chemical that normally takes years to degrade. When these four bacteria work together as a team, they can eliminate over 82% of the herbicide in soil within four weeks. This discovery could provide a practical solution for cleaning up farmland contaminated with this stubborn chemical pollutant.

Background

Diflufenican is a persistent herbicide with high DT90 values (up to 1900 days) used globally for weed control in agriculture. It exhibits low volatility, low water solubility, and tends to accumulate and adsorb in soil, posing environmental concerns. Previous studies showed that microbial preparations often inhibited diflufenican degradation, highlighting the need for new degradative microorganisms.

Objective

To isolate and identify novel bacterial strains capable of degrading the persistent herbicide diflufenican and to evaluate the degradation efficiency of individual strains and their synthetic consortium in mineral medium and soil environments. The study also aimed to analyze the presence of potential diflufenican metabolites.

Results

Four bacterial strains were identified: Pseudomonas sp. 10Kp8 (A1), Pseudomonas chlororaphis subsp. aureofaciens strain B19 (A2), Pseudomonas baetica strain JZY4-9 (C1), and Streptomyces atratus strain ROA017 (D1). The D1 strain achieved 70.1% degradation in MSM and 79% in soil. The synthetic consortium of all four strains achieved higher degradation rates of 74.4% in MSM and 82.2% in soil. The metabolite 2-(3-trifluoromethylphenoxy)nicotinic acid was detected in all samples.

Conclusion

The studied bacterial strains demonstrated significant ability to degrade diflufenican in both liquid and soil environments, with the synthetic consortium showing superior performance. The microorganisms utilized diflufenican as a carbon and energy source even at high concentrations. These findings suggest the bacterial consortium holds promise as a bioremediation technique for persistent herbicide contamination in agricultural ecosystems.
  • Published in:Scientific Reports,
  • Study Type:Experimental Study,
  • Source: PMID: 40410295, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-02696-3
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