repulsion effects, acifluorfen is sorbed by soil or soil constituents (Pusino et al., 1991; Ruggiero et al., 1992; Potential surface water and groundwater contaminants include herPusino et al., 1993; Gennari et al., 1994b; Nègre et al., bicides that are applied postemergence. Although applied to the plant canopy, a portion of any application reaches the soil either directly 1995; Locke et al., ...

A laboratory-scale drum bioreactor system was used to study engineering aspects of soil bioremediation. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were chosen as contaminants in soil. In the operation of the reactor, different mixing strategies were applied according to the size of soil without separate washing of sand. The effect of the water content of the soil mixture on solid mixing time and p...

2 Abstract Vegetation type and cover play an important role in the operation of geomorphological processes by controlling runoff and sediment dynamics. In drylands, land degradation is particularly sensitive to these eco-geomorphic interactions. Whilst many geomorphological studies of land degradation focus on the change in hydrological response as a function of vegetation cover, few have inves...

Bioremediation of diesel oil in soil can occur by natural attenuation, or treated by biostimulation or bioaugmentation. In this study we evaluated all three technologies on the degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil. In addition, the number of diesel-degrading microorganisms present and microbial activity as indexed by the dehydrogenase assay were monitored. Soils contaminate...

Land degradation takes a number of forms, including depletion of soil nutrients, salinization, agrochemical pollution, soil erosion, vegetative degradation as a result of overgrazing, and the cutting of forests for farmland. All of these types of degradation cause a decline in the productive capacity of the land, reducing potential yields. Farmers may need to use more inputs such as fertilizer ...

The efficacy of vegetative buffer strips (VBS) in removing herbicides deposited from surface runoff is related to the ability of plant species to promote rapid herbicide degradation. A growth chamber study was conducted to compare C-atrazine (ATR) degradation profiles in soil rhizospheres from different forage grasses and correlate ATR degradation rates and profiles with microbial activity usin...

The problem of endosulfan bioremediation is poor solubility and restriction of appropriate biocatalyst. One promising approach in increasing the bioavailability of this organic compound is addition of surfactants. The synthetic surfactant Tween 80 was non-toxic to soil microorganisms and inert to the soil matrix and had the additional benefit of causing an enhanced dissolution rate for single c...

AIMS A microcosm-enrichment approach was used to investigate bacterial populations that may represent 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D)-degrading micro-organisms in compost-amended soil. METHODS AND RESULTS After 8 weeks of incubation, with repeated application of 1,3-D, volatilization fluxes were much lower for compost-amended soil (CM) than with the unamended soils, indicating accelerated degrada...

The stimulation of the microbial population by a more bioavailable supplementary carbon source and by a surfactant pretreatment was studied in petroleum hydrocarbon-polluted soils bioremediation. Two types of soils were used, Soil A which had been recently polluted and the aged Soil B. They contained 52.4 and 50.4 g of total petroleum hydrocarbons per kg of dry soil, respectively. The effect of...

The white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus was able to degrade the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, and benzo[ghi]perylene in nonsterile soil both in the presence and in the absence of cadmium and mercury. During 15 weeks of incubation, recovery of individual compounds was 16 t...