Effect of Imidacloprid Intoxication on growth and phosphatase Activity in Soil Isolate Bacillus weihenstephanensis strain

Imidacloprid, , is a neonicotinoid, a class of neuro-active insecticides modeled after nicotine. The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of imidacloprid treatment on growth and phosphatase activity in soil isolate Bacillus weihenstephanensis (SP-03). The soil isolate was isolated after enrichment cultures, as imidacloprid tolerant bacteria. Cells of Bacillus weihenstephanensis were exposed to imidacloprid of concentrations ranging from 10 -7 to 10 -3 M for a period of 96 hrs. Treatment with higher dose (10 -4 and 10 -3 M) of imidacloprid caused no significant increase in the phosphatase activity, whereas, significant increase was observed in the lower dose (10-7, 10-6 and 10-5 M) of imidacloprid. The growth of the isolate was dose dependent and increase in concentration of imidacloprid lead to decreased growth. The results of present investigation revealed that imidacloprid intoxication effects the growth and development of bacteria by inhibiting metabolic enzymes and other proteins necessary for the growth.