Bacterial degradation of the herbicide pendimethalin and activity evaluation of its metabolites

• DOI: 10.1007/bf00195503
• Publication Date: 2004-08-27T23:56:03Z
• Authors: R.K. Kole; J. Saha; S. Pal; S. Chaudhuri; A. Chowdhury
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 2. Zero hunger; Kinetics; 03 medical and health sciences; Aniline Compounds; Biodegradation, Environmental; Herbicides; Azotobacter; Cells, Cultured; Triticum; 6. Clean water

Pendimethat in ( I , N ( 1 e t h y l p r o p y l ) 2 , 6 d i n i t r o 3 , 4 x y l i d i n e ) , a preemergent se lec t i ve h e r b i c i d e of d i n i t r oan i l i ne grouP, has been e x t e n s i v e l y used fo r weed cont ro l in cotton, r i ce , soybean , tobacco, e tc . In genera l , most d i n i t r o a n i l i n e h e r b i c i d e s seem to be moderate ly pers is ten t , i . e . , they are degraded to nonp h y t o t o x i c l eve ls w i th in the growing season in warm, moist soi ls (Kearney e t a l . 1976) and undergo severa l t ransformat ion react ions inc lud ing N -dea l ky l a t i on , n i t ro reduc t lon and c y c l i z a t ion when incorpora ted in the so i l (Marquis e t a l . 1979). A l though the m ic rob ia l process of t ransformat ion is cons idered as the major or" sometime the only means by which pes t i c ides are e l iminated from a va r i e t y of ecosystems (A lexander 1972) but l i t t l e is known about the m ic rob ia l t ransformat ion products of pend imetha l in except ing the works of Barua e t a l . (1990) and Yoko e t a l . (1990). The present inves t iga t ion has thus been intended to c a r r y out the m ic rob ia l t ransformat ion of pend i methal in by an important so i l bacter ium A z o t o b a c t e r c h r o o c o c c u m Be i je r i nck in pure cu l ture cond i t ion . At tempts have also been made to es tab l i sh the s t r u c t u r e a c t i v i t y re la t i onsh ip among the d i f f e ren t t ransformat ion products of pend imetha l in for the safety evaluat ion of the envi ronment .