Premium
Chemical and Microbiological Degradation of Malathion and Parathion in an Estuarine Environment
Author(s) -
Walker W. W.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1976.00472425000500020022x
Subject(s) - malathion , parathion , chemistry , biodegradation , environmental chemistry , salinity , microorganism , pesticide , bacteria , sediment , toxicology , parathion methyl , biology , ecology , organic chemistry , paleontology , genetics
Malathion was essentially completely degraded during 18 days incubation in sterile and nonsterile water, while respective parathion losses ranged from 16 to 23% after 40 days. Malathion abatement was in direct proportion to increasing salinity, while parathion was quite persistent, even in high salinity (25 parts per thousand [ppt]) water. Microorganisms capable of degrading malathion and parathion were isolated from insecticide‐enriched sediment. Four bacteria isolated from malathion‐enriched sediment readily degraded malathion, one to malathion half‐ester and another to malathion dicarboxylic acid through the half‐ester intermediate, and three bacteria isolated from parathion‐enriched sediment were efficient in parathion metabolism. One bacterium isolated from parathion‐enriched sediment was capable of degrading malathion to the diacid through the half‐ester intermediate.