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Atrazine degradation in boreal nonagricultural subsoil and tropical agricultural soil

  • SOILS, SEC 4 • ECOTOXICOLOGY • RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine the natural atrazine degradation activity and the genetic potential in a soil profile spanning down to the groundwater zone, collected in Finland at a site where past use of atrazine has contaminated the groundwater, and in Indian agricultural topsoils having different histories of atrazine use.

Materials and methods

Atrazine degradation potential was assessed by quantifying the atrazine degradation genes atzA, trzN, and atzB by quantitative PCR reaction. Atrazine mineralization was studied by radiorespirometry in order to find out if these genes were expressed.

Results and discussion

Indian soils contained a large number up to 104–105 copies (g−1 dry weight (dw) soil) of atrazine degradation genes after the first treatment with atrazine. These genes were also expressed, as up to 55 % of atrazine mineralized. Some unspecific binding of primers required thorough investigation and confirmation by sequencing of the qPCR products in the agricultural soil samples. The degradation capability of the nonagricultural boreal soil profile was much lower: atrazine degradation genes were present at detection limit (102 copies g−1 soil), but mineralization studies indicated that these genes were not transcribed, since no or very little atrazine mineralization was observed.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that when atrazine was applied in agricultural practice, the soil atrazine degradation capacity was high. The organisms responsible for the degradation were effectively degrading atrazine already 3 months after the first treatment with atrazine. However, in boreal soil, decades after atrazine use had been discontinued, residual atrazine was not degraded even though a small number of degradation genes could still be detected in soil. There is a need for more specific primers for qPCR in tropical soils.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ilse Heiskanen, Ritva Väisänen, and Laura Häkkinen for the technical assistance, and the municipality of Lohja for granting us access to the sampling site in Finland. This research was funded by the Academy of Finland, grant no.124822, to K. Jørgensen and Dept. of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi, to A. Kapley (Indo-Finnish programme on environmental biotechnology).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Environment Institute, P.O box 140, 00251, Helsinki, Finland

    Aura O. Nousiainen, Katarina Björklöf & Kirsten S. Jørgensen

  2. Environmental Genomics Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020, India

    Sneha Sagarkar, Shinjini Mukherjee, Hemant J. Purohit & Atya Kapley

Authors
  1. Aura O. Nousiainen
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  2. Katarina Björklöf
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  3. Sneha Sagarkar
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  4. Shinjini Mukherjee
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  5. Hemant J. Purohit
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  6. Atya Kapley
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  7. Kirsten S. Jørgensen
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Correspondence to Aura O. Nousiainen.

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Responsible editor: Qixing Zhou

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Nousiainen, A.O., Björklöf, K., Sagarkar, S. et al. Atrazine degradation in boreal nonagricultural subsoil and tropical agricultural soil. J Soils Sediments 14, 1179–1188 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0868-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0868-6

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