Analysis of Bifenthrin Degrading Bacteria from Rhizosphere of Plants Growing at Tannery Solid Waste

Abstract

Bifenthrin is an insecticide which is used to control insects, mites, and ticks. It poses a solemn en-vironmental threat and health risk to living organisms. It may be bioaccumulated or biomagnified at different trophic levels in the food chain by biota. Microbes are hidden creature of earth’s biodiversity. For isolation of bifenthrin degrading bacteria, rhizospheric soil samples of plants like Pisum sativum, Triticun aestvum, Chenopodium album were taken from tannery solid waste, Kasur, Pakistan. Enrichment culture techniques were used for the isolation of bacterial strains that showed luxurious growth on minimal growth media with bifenthrin dose was selected for biodegradation study. Bacteria were further screened out based on their morphological, biochemical parameters and degradation efficiency. Furthermore the effect of different growth factors like temperature, pH, inoculum concencentration, minimal inhibitory concentration of heavy metals and antibiotics were also studied. Bacterial strains of Xanthomonas and Bacillus sp. were identified as efficient degrading microbes. Maximum bifenthrin utilization were observed at 25°C (pH 7), with 500 μL inoculum of Bacillus sp., while Xanthomonas sp. gave optimm utilization at 30 ° C (pH 7) at the same inoculum volume of bacteria. The Rf values of Bacillus sp. and Xanthomonas sp. were 0.91 and 0.90 respectively, which indicated their potential to metabolize bifenthrin into nontoxic forms. These strains can be used to clean up the sites polluted with pesticides and tannery wastes when present in rhizosphere of plants.