Indications of the occurrence of enhanced biodegradation of carbofuran in some Italian soils

The occurrence of carbofuran accelerated biodegradation has been ascertained in two Italian soils utilized for sugarbeet cultivation and treated with the pesticide every other year for 5 years. Control soils with similar agrochemical characteristics but no carbofuran treatment history were also chosen. The results obtained showed that in the treated soils the presence of the active ingredient selected a bacterial population active in carbofuran biodegradation, from which pure cultures belonging to genera Arthrobacter, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Actinomyces, were isolated. As biodegradation was performed when carbofuran was the only carbon source, the phenomenon was thought to be mainly metabolic.