Researchers from the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have clarified how the herbicide chlorimuron-ethyl affects nitrogen cycling in soybean rhizosphere soils and demonstrated that a chlorimuron-ethyl-degrading bacterial strain, Chenggangzhangella methanolivorans CHL1, can help restore ecological stability in contaminated soils.
Researchers from the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have clarified how the herbicide chlorimuron-ethyl affects nitrogen cycling in soybean rhizosphere soils and demonstrated that a chlorimuron-ethyl-degrading bacterial strain, Chenggangzhangella methanolivorans CHL1, can help restore ecological stability in contaminated soils.
Published in Geoderma, the study addresses concerns over the long-term accumulation of herbicide residues in agricultural soils.
Herbicides that remain in the soil after application can disrupt the microbial communities and nutrient cycling processes necessary for crop growth. Nitrogen cycling is a series of biological processes that convert nitrogen into forms that are available to plants and microorganisms. It plays an important role in maintaining soil fertility and agricultural productivity. Microbial remediation, which uses microorganisms to break down pollutants, has become an important approach for managing contaminated farmland.
The study was led by XU Mingkai of the Innovation Group on Environmental Pollution Processes and Effects at IAE. Using field experiments and controlled microcosm systems, the researchers investigated how chlorimuron-ethyl, a widely used sulfonylurea herbicide in soybean production, affects rhizosphere ecosystems. They combined soil analyses with metagenomic approaches to evaluate changes in microorganisms related to nitrogen cycling and to assess the contribution of CHL1 to soil recovery.
Read more at: Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
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