title: Inoculation with a mixed degrading culture improves the pesticide removal of an on-farm biopurification system.
abstract: To investigate whether the pesticide removal in on-farm biopurification systems (BPS) filled with two different types of substrata (biomix and plastic carriers) is affected by inoculation with a pesticide-degrading strain or mixed culture, lab-scale BPS used to treat chloropropham point source contaminations were bioaugmented with either a specialized chloropropham-degrading strain or a chloropropham-degrading enrichment culture. Application of both inoculum types leads to an accelerated degradation activity in the columns filled with plastic carriers. For both substratum types, inoculation with the mixed culture resulted in a lower breakthrough of the toxic intermediate 3-chloroaniline at high hydraulic loads, compared to inoculation with the pure isolate and no inoculation. This study suggests that the use of plastic carrier materials could be a proficient alternative to the use of a conventional biomix as a substratum in on-farm BPS and that inoculation with a mixed degrading culture can reduce the leaching of more mobile toxic intermediates.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium. pieter.verhagen@hogent.be
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verhagen
authors.forename: Leen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Gelder
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Boon
mesh_terms: D059827:Agricultural Inoculants / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000378:metabolism*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical