Isolation and identification of atrazine-degrading bacteria from corn field soil in Fars province of Iran.

In this study several agricultural fields with a long history of atrazine application in Fars province of Iran have been explored for their potential of atrazine biodegradation. After several subculturing for a period of 300 days acclimation, leads to an enhancement of atrazine biodegradation rate. A successful enrichment culture with a high capability for atrazine degradation was obtained (88%). A combination of enrichment culture technique, in a basal salt medium containing atrazine and carbon sources under nitrogen limitation and plating on indicator atrazine agar, have permitted the isolation of bacterial consortium with high capability of using atrazine as a nitrogen source. Seven gram-negative and one gram-positive bacterial strain, which were able to use this herbicide as a sole source of nitrogen, were isolated from Darehasalouie Kavar corn field soil. Based on physiological, biochemical and nutritional characteristics, the isolated bacteria were identified as Pseudomonas alcaligenes, Acidovorax sp., Pseudomonas putida, Ralstonia eutrophus, Pseudomonas syiringe, Erwinia tracheiphila, Entrobacter agglomerans and Micrococcus varians. Therefore, the bacterial consortium in liquid culture containing carbon sources and atrazine as a sole source of nitrogen, degrade added atrazine more than 80%.