Skip to main content

Microbial Remediation of Persistent Agrochemicals

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Advances in Agricultural and Industrial Microbiology

Abstract

Agrochemicals are an integral part of the agricultural ecosystem as it contributes significantly to improving the crop yield through pest management. The chemically synthesized products such as insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides exhibit harmful effects on living organisms and few of them are characterized as resistant to degradation. Besides being persistent in nature, they may leach into groundwater and run off to surface water. Thus, to degrade the persistent agrochemicals, bioremediation with the help of microbes is one of the best options. This approach is environmentally friendly, effective, and less expensive with the least adverse effects. Microbes such as bacteria, actinobacteria, fungi, and cyanobacteria are reported of having the exclusive trait of degradation. The microbial world consumes persistent toxic chemicals as the source of their growth by facilitating the mineralization of those chemicals. This detoxification process is carried out with the help of microbial enzymes. Some efficient and potential bioremediation agents are Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Arthrobacter sp., Anabaena sp., Leptolyngbya sp., Nostoc sp., Spirulina sp., etc. This chapter discusses the extent of the use of persistent agrochemicals and key biodegradation pathways. The chapter also discusses on the advantages and disadvantages of microbial remediation and the scope of commercial utilization of microbes for agrochemical degradation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

Download references

Acknowledgement

Authors sincerely thank the Director, ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, for providing technical and financial support. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Totan Adak .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Priyadarshinee, P. et al. (2022). Microbial Remediation of Persistent Agrochemicals. In: Nayak, S.K., Baliyarsingh, B., Singh, A., Mannazzu, I., Mishra, B.B. (eds) Advances in Agricultural and Industrial Microbiology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9682-4_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics