Screening of insectiside (malathion) degrading bacteria from soil

Abstract

Excessive of the Malathion which is type of organophosphate in soil especially at the agriculture fields will contaminated the soil and gave harmful effect to lung, gastrointestinal tract, skin and nervous system of human and animals. One of the ways to control the contamination in soil was by using insecticide degrading bacteria obtained from the soil itself. So, the aims of this study were to isolate the bacteria from soil samples and to identify bacteria degrading Malathion from soil. The bacteria were isolated from soil samples that have been treated by Malathion. The rate of Malathion degradation was screened using enrichment culture mixed with isolated bacteria, trace element and Malathion for ten days. The result was monitored by using plate count method and optical density at 600nm which was used to measure the growth phase of bacteria. The result obtained from plate count method showed that there was no isolated bacteria successfully degraded the Malathion due to the changes in growth temperature and chemical properties of nutrients that made the bacteria unable to adapt in artificial condition of culture. This condition in laboratory can showed that many factor influence the degrading Malathion.