Abstract:
Herbicides were used to control weeds in agricultural systems generally but since the
application have practiced year by years, thousands of tons of it have been introduced
to the environment making it one of environmentally problems due to its toxicity. The
aims of this study were to isolates soil bacteria from soil samples treated by Roundup
with the active compound of glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine) and also
identify soil bacteria degrading glyphosate. In this study, soil sample was taken from
the tobacco farm with the history of glyphosate application for about 5 years at the
depth of 5 to 10cm situated in Seberang Takir, Terengganu. Screenings of isolates
were carried out by enrichment culture method and rate of glyphosate degradation was
measured by optical density by the wavelength of 600nm and also colony count
method. Within this study, 5 isolated bacteria (from soil sample) were isolated
randomly from plates. Graphs produced by optical density and plate count methods
shows that there was glyphosate utilization by Isolate I (identified as
Corynebacterium kutsceri).
