Treatment of Pesticide Contaminated Wastewater by Soil Microorganisms

Cypermethrin is one of the most widely used pesticides in the country for agriculture crop production. Due to least water solubility and toxicity, its removal need especial attention. Microbial degradation is considered to be an efficient and cost effective method for decontamination of toxic pesticides from the environment. In this study, malathion degrading bacterial isolate, identified as Pseudomonas, was used to assess its biodegradation potential for cypermethrin in aqueous system. The experimental findings indicate that Pseudomonas was able to degrade cypermethrin, if suitable environmental conditions provided in the reactor. Increased concentration from 20 to 80 mg/L gradually decreased the removal efficiency. However, under continuous agitation, complete degradation of cypermethrin (20 mg/L) occurred within a period of 48 hours. These results suggest that the use of potential microorganisms in the treatment system can successfully overcome many of the disadvantages associated with the conventional method used for the degradation of inhibitory compounds.