Degradation of BHC by white mold

The organism Geotrichum candidum tolerated 1 to 10 ppm of BHC in culture media. The culture filtrate degraded pesticide starting from 4h (23.9%) and reaching maximum of 37.2 and 37.3% after 8h and 12h respectively. Precipitation of culture filtrate with 60–70% ammonium sulphate yielded the active crude enzyme, which degraded the pesticide, Maximum degradation of BHC i.e. 66.86% was achieved with the precipitated enzyme after 4h at 25°C, however no activity was observed at 37°C. The protein content of the precipitated enzyme was 8.5 mg/10 ml.