Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXIII, Issue 1
Written by Mariana PETKOVA, Mladen NAYDENOV, Anyo MITKOV, Nesho NESHEV, Mariyan YANEV, Tonyo TONEV
Chemical weed control is one of the most distributed weed management methods around the globe. As herbicide-resistant weeds often develop, dosage increases are required, leading to environmental pollution. An effective environmental strategy for the degradation of herbicides is to detect and apply microorganisms capable of breaking down and transforming the herbicides. The study aims to determine the degradation of the herbicide Merlin Flexx SC 480 (240 g/l isoxaflutole + 240 g/l cyprosulfamide - antidote) by the soil microorganisms. The current research was conducted with microbial communities from the maize rhizosphere that are resistant to isoxazoles. The soil was treated with two rates of isoxaflutole - 420 and 840 ml ha-1. The biodegradation of isoxaflutole to diketonitrile and benzoic acid derivative was measured by HPLC. The main representatives of the microflora were bacteria, mold fungi, and nitrogen-fixing bacteria to a greater extent. A decrease in the number of bacteria and an increase in the number of mold fungi in the treated soils was found. The number of nitrogen-fixing bacteria increased by increasing the amount of Merlin Flexx in the soil.
[Read full article] [Citation]
