Biodegradation of Endosulfan in Soil and Broth by Microorganisms

This paper provides the data on the microbiological and chemical characteristics of 98 field soil samples from 16 states of India where endosulfan was applied along with isolation of microorganisms from soil able to degrade endosulfan. The results of the analyses show that the bacterial, fungal and actinomycetes count of the soil samples ranged from 10⁴ to 10⁷, 10³ to 10⁴ and 10⁴ to 10⁵ cfu/gm respectively. The percent organic carbon, available nitrogen, phosphate and potassium ranged from 0.4 to 1.23; 179 to 291; 3.11 to 21 and 330 to 1121 kg/ha, respectively. A comparative endosulfan degradation study using standard strains from MTCC and microbes isolated from soil was also carried out, besides their survival and growth kinetics. In 500 ppm of endosulfan. These isolates showed 98.8 to 99.9% of degradation without formation of toxic intermediates of degradation of endosulfan in liquid mineral medium in 7 d and 97.5 to 99.0% in soil within 21 d.