Endosulfan contaminated soil has become an important risk to the environment and human health worldwide. In the present study, endosulfan tolerant bacterial strain Delftia lacustris IITISM30 and Klebsiella aerogenes IITISM42 were isolated from pesticide stressed agricultural soil and tested for plant growth promoting activities. A pot experiment was performed using Helianthus annuus, grown in soil supplemented with endosulfan and inoculated with pure and consortium of bacterial strain IITISM30 and IITISM42. Inoculation increased plant biomass production and endosulfan degradation, maximum degradation (90% at 5 mg kg-1 of soil) was observed by inoculation with a consortium of bacterial strain IITISM30 and IITISM42. Moreover, there was significantly less endosulfan accumulation was observed in roots and shoots of bacterial inoculated plants as compared to uninoculated plants. Decrease in production of malonialdehyde (MDA) was noticed on inoculation of a bacterial strain. The study demonstrated that inoculation of a consortium of endosulfan tolerant plant growth promoting bacterial isolates could more effectively remediate endosulfan contaminated soils and decrease endosulfan residues in plants, than individual strains. Moreover, it revealed that combined use of H. annuus and endosulfan tolerant bacterial isolates IITISM30 and IITISM42 has great potential for remediating endosulfan contaminated soil.
Keywords: Endosulfan degradation; Lipid peroxidation; Phytoremediation; Plant bacteria partnership; Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria.
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