Biodegradation of imidacloprid by microbial consortium in sterile and non-sterile soil under in vitro conditions

Investigation on degradation of imidacloprid at 5 and 10 mg L^–1 concentrations by microbial consortium in sterile and non-sterile soil was undertaken under in vitro conditions. HPLC analysis of imidacloprid residues done at 10 days interval for a period of 50 days showed that the rate of degradation of imidacloprid by microbial consortium was 52.63 and 51.85 per cent in the non-sterile and 72.69 and 73.21 per cent in the sterile soil at 5 and 10 mg L^–1 doses, respectively. Imidacloprid degraded significantly faster in both treated sterile and non-sterile soil compared to control soil. The rate of degradation followed first-order and pseudo first-order kinetics in non-sterile and sterile soil, respectively. The study concluded that microbial consortium could effectively be used for degrading imidacloprid in sterile and non-sterile soil under in vitro conditions.