Bioremediation of PAH-contaminated farmland: field experiment

The agricultural soil contaminated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is gradually emerging and becoming serious in China with the rapid development of economy. To reduce the risk of PAHs in agricultural soil and guarantee the food safety, the biological agent that Mycobacterium gilvum immobilized on modified peanut shell powder enhanced remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated vegetable farmland was investigated under the conditions of the field experiment. The results indicated that adding biological agent could promote PAH degradation in the soil, especially high-ring PAHs. The degradation rates of PAHs in the soil could be further improved to 16.5-43.5 %, respectively, compared with the soil without the biological agent. Adding the biological agent could significantly improve soil dehydrogenase activity and microbial diversity. It also could reduce the enrichment of PAHs in mustard planted in the polluted field, which indicated that the biological treatments might be less ecological risk. The work suggested that adding the biological agent might be a promising in situ bioremediation strategy for PAH-contaminated farmland field.