Response of bacterial communities in saline-alkali soil to different pesticide stresses

The objective is to understand the diversity of bacteria-degrading pesticide pollutants in Xinjiang saline-alkali soil environment and resolve the lack of suitable degrading bacteria resources for bioremediation of pesticide pollution in this environment. The soil of long-term continuous cropping cotton fields in Xinjiang was used to culture the degrading bacterial communities under long-term stress of five pesticides, such as beta-cypermethrin. Then, the degradation rate and structural composition of each bacterial communities were analyzed. The soil bacterial diversity in Xinjiang saline-alkali cotton fields was high, from which not only imidacloprid and other commonly and once used pesticide-degrading bacterial communities were enriched but also isoprocarb-degrading bacterial communities, which had never been used, were enriched. After long-term passage, the structural composition of each degrading bacterial communities was stable, and the degradation rates were between 17 and 48%, respectively, in a specific culture period. Each degrading bacterial communities covers many reported pesticide-degrading bacterial genera and contains unique bacterial genera in each 3. These results laid a foundation for studying the metabolic pathway of pesticide pollutants in saline-alkali environment and exploring microbial resources in Xinjiang. Graphical Abstract Variety of pesticide degrading bacteria resources in saline alkali soil of Xinjiang.