TITLE:
Bioremediation of Diuron in Soil Environment: Influence of Cyanobacterial Mat
AUTHORS:
Jamal Safi, Yousef Awad, Yasser El-Nahhal
KEYWORDS:
Cyanobacterial Mat; Diuron; Soil
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.8,
March
26,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Diuron is a herbicide widely used
in the Middle East; its
field application creates many environmental problems. This study investigated the
bioremediation of Diuron
in soil environment by Cyanobacterial mats collected from Gaza Wadi. Various
concentrations of Diuron were injected in water saturated soil samples
pre-treated with Cyanobacterial
mat for several periods. Percent growth of Jews mallow as a test plant was
taken as indicator of biodegradation of Diuron. Results showed that Diuron was
degraded in soil and degradation was more pronounced when Diuron was incubated
with Cyanobacterial in the irrigation water. Larger applied rate of
Cyanobacterial mat did not affect the biodegradation of Diuron. These
encouraging results suggest that application of Cyanobacterial mat
could be a suitable method to remediate soil pollution.