Microbial Bioremediation in Agriculture

Agricultural soil receives a wide variety of environmental contaminants through multiple input pathways. Pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated and polybrominated biphenyls, pesticides and fertilizers, metals, and more recently, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, reach the soil through irrigation with reclaimed wastewater, application of sewage sludges, and agrochemicals to combat respectively nutrient deficit of soil and pests, or even by atmospheric deposition. Bioremediation provides an attractive approach for the removal of chemical stressors and, in turn, improving biological and chemical parameters of soil quality. This course will present the example of bioremediation methodologies to clean soil using microorganisms and familiarize students with various bioremediation techniques.