Abstract

Lindane is a highly chlorinated and recalcitrant insecticide, capable to accumulate in soil and groundwater. Despite lindane has been banned in many countries, numerous sites still remain contaminated. The present work studies the bioremediation of soils of different textures contaminated with lindane by bioaugmentation with a quadruple Streptomyces consortium. In the three evaluated soils, silty loam soil (SLS), sandy soil (SS), and clayey soil (CS), heterotrophic microbial populations increased during the 14 days of the assay and CFU counts were higher in bioaugmented than in non-bioaugmented soils. Lindane removal was detected in all contaminated treatments, with higher removal percentages in the bioaugmented microcosms (SS 70.3%, SLS 36.3%, and CS 30.7%), than in non-bioaugmented ones (SS 40.4%, SLS 9.3%, and CS 12.2%). The pesticide half-life decreased by 77.3, 50.3, and 10.7 days, in bioaugmented SLS, CS, and SS, respectively. Lindane had an inhibitory effect on soil enzyme activities such as dehydrogenase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, acid and alkaline phosphatases and increased the catalase activity, in non-bioaugmented controls; however, no effect on urease activity was observed. Bioaugmentation of soil microcosms with actinobacteria increased all enzymatic activities. Finally, the survival of the four strains of the consortium was demonstrated at the end of the bioremediation assay. Bioremediation using the Streptomyces sp. A2-A5-A1 1 -M7 consortium represents a promising tool to restore different types of soils contaminated with organochlorine pesticides.