Toxicity evaluation and degradation of cypermethrin-contaminated soil using biochar and Bacillus cereus amendments

Hamid Rehman; Ziafat Rehman; Tonoy K Das; Maha Rehman; Basit Ahmed Khan; Sunny Nandi; Khurshid Ahmad; Sanjay K Mohanty; Wasif Ur Rehman; Rehan Naeem; Mohit Bajaj; Milkias Berhanu Tuka

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-81588-4

Toxicity evaluation and degradation of cypermethrin-contaminated soil using biochar and Bacillus cereus amendments

Sci Rep. 2024 Dec 2;14(1):29892. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-81588-4.

Authors

Hamid Rehman^{1

2}, Ziafat Rehman³, Tonoy K Das⁴, Maha Rehman⁵, Basit Ahmed Khan^{1

6}, Sunny Nandi^{7

8}, Khurshid Ahmad⁹, Sanjay K Mohanty², Wasif Ur Rehman¹⁰, Rehan Naeem¹¹, Mohit Bajaj^{12

13

14}, Milkias Berhanu Tuka¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Microbiology, Abbottabad University of Science and Technology, Hevelian Abbottabad, 22500, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M University, Kingsville, USA.
⁵ Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, 2600, Pakistan.
⁶ The UWA Institute of Agriculture and School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6001, Australia.
⁷ Department of Physics, Tezpur University, Assam, 784028, India.
⁸ New Technologies - Research Centre (NTC), University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, 30100, Czech Republic.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Marine Food Processing & Safety Control, College of Food Sciences and Engineering, Ocean University of China, No. 1299, Sansha Road, Qingdao, 266404, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.
¹⁰ Hubei Key Laboratory of Energy Storage and Power Battery, School of Mathematics, Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Hubei University of Automotive Technology, Shiyan, 442002, People's Republic of China.
¹¹ Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, 2600, Pakistan. dr.rehan@kust.edu.pk.
¹² Department of Electrical Engineering, Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Dehradun, 248002, India.
¹³ Hourani Center for Applied Scientific Research, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan.
¹⁴ College of Engineering, University of Business and Technology, Jeddah, 21448, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Sustainable Energy Center of Excellency, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. milkias.berhanu@aastu.edu.et.

Abstract

Cypermethrin (Cyp), a persistent synthetic pyrethroid insecticide widely used for insect control. The persistence of Cyp creates toxicity to both humans and the environment This study investigates biochar and Bacillus cereus distinct and collective effects on Cyp -contaminated soil during a 90-day incubation. This study also investigates the effects of different concentrations of Cyp (50, 100, ,500 to 1000 mg kg^-1) on soil physicochemical and biological activities during a 90-day incubation period. Microbial biomass carbon and soil respiration rates decreased significantly across all cypermethrin concentrations, with the most substantial reductions observed at 1000 mg kg^-1. However noticeable variations in soil enzymes and MBC over time during the entire incubation period. On 1st day, the GMean Enz and MBC rate for Cyp treatments (50, 100, ,500 to 1000 mg kg^-1) ranged from 0.98 to 0.63, and 9.06, to 5.03, respectively. Under Cyp pollution, microbial biomass carbon exhibited significant decreases, with the highest inhibition (86.2%) at 1000 mg kg^-1 on 1st day of incubation. Soil respiration rates dropped 77%, at 1000 mg kg^-1, and Integrated biomarker response (IBR) values peaked on day 30, indicating environmental stress. Biochar and Bacillus cereus effectively facilitated the degradation of Cyp, achieving approximately 85% degradation within the first 45 days of the experiment. The combined application of biochar and Bacillus cereus increased soil pH to a neutral level from 5.9, to 7.1, reduced electrical conductivity from 1.41 µS cm^{- 1} to 1.20 µS cm^-1, and elevated cation exchange capacity from 1.54 ± 0.04 to 6.18 C mol kg^-1, while also improving organic carbon content to 3.135%. However, the dehydrogenase activity was decresed upto 47% in the combined application and all other enzymes including urasese catlayse and phostasese enzymes with Gmean enzymeatic activities were significantly improved. These findings suggest biochar and bacterial interaction for soil management to enhance soil resilience against pesticide stress.

Keywords: Biomarker response; Cypermethrin degradation; Microbial activities; Soil management.

MeSH terms

Bacillus cereus* / drug effects
Bacillus cereus* / metabolism
Biodegradation, Environmental
Charcoal* / chemistry
Insecticides / metabolism
Insecticides / toxicity
Pyrethrins* / metabolism
Pyrethrins* / toxicity
Soil Microbiology*
Soil Pollutants* / toxicity
Soil* / chemistry

Substances

cypermethrin
Charcoal
Soil Pollutants
biochar
Pyrethrins
Soil
Insecticides