Use of sugar cane bagasse for the bioremediation of lindane contaminated soil by a defined consortium of actinobacteria

RAIMONDO EE; ANTEZANA PE; APARICIO JD; FUENTES MS; BENIMELI CS

Pucon

Workshop; 5th International Workshop Advances in Science and Technology of Bioresources; 2015

The indiscriminate use of lindane led adverse effects on human health and the environment. Bioremediation is a tool that allows removing this contaminant by using biological activity. The use of actinobacteria consortia is an attractive approach because of their ability to degrade lindane and to increase the metabolic pathways to remove it. On the other hand, several studies have reported bioremediation of contaminated soils by adding agro-industrial wastes. The aim of this work was to study the ability of an actinobacteria consortium to remove lindane in soil using sugarcane bagasse as amendment and bulking agent. Bioremediation assays were performed on non-sterile silty loam soil microcosms, artificially contaminated with lindane (2 mg kg?1). The treatments consisted of the following ratios of soil: residue (%/%): 100:0, 98:2, 95:5 and 90:10; and nutrients (carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous) were adjusted to a 100/10/1 ratio (C:N:P). Furthermore, particulate size of sugarcane bagasse (0.5 mm and 5.0 mm) and moisture content (20% and 30%) were evaluated. The soil microcosms were inoculated with a defined consortium of actinobacteria (Streptomyces sp. A2, A5, A11 and M7; 2 g kg?1 of soil) and incubated at 30 °C for 14 days under aerobic conditions. Residual lindane concentrations were measured by gas chromatography. Statistical analysis indicated that there were significant differences in the removal of lindane among the treatments with different ratios of soil:residue. The best lindane removal (47.3 %) after 14 days was obtained with a particulate size of 0.5 mm with 30% moisture content and soil:bagasse ratio of 98:2. The actinobacteria consortium has the ability to remove lindane in non-sterile silty loam soil. Sugarcane bagasse enhanced the rate of biodegradation of lindane with respect to soils without bagasse addition amendment, so this residue can be a promising tool to restore pesticides contaminated soils.Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledgment financial support of Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), and Universidad del Norte Santo Tomás de Aquino (UNSTA).