Soil science
Sh. Moradi; M.R. Sarikhani; A. Beheshti Ale Agha; A. Reyhanitabarَ; S.S. Alavi-kia; A. Bandehagh; R. Sharifi
Abstract
IntroductionOil contamination affects the biological, physical, and chemical properties of soil. The abundance and diversity of soil microbial communities can significantly be influenced by petroleum hydrocarbons. Soil biological indicators including microbial population and enzyme activity, are highly ...
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IntroductionOil contamination affects the biological, physical, and chemical properties of soil. The abundance and diversity of soil microbial communities can significantly be influenced by petroleum hydrocarbons. Soil biological indicators including microbial population and enzyme activity, are highly sensitive to environmental stresses and respond to them quickly. Measuring the microbial population is one of the most common biological indicators which is used to study the quality and health of the soil. Also, measuring the activity of enzymes such as urease is one of the most sensitive indicators of oil-contaminated soils. There are some studies on the effects of oil contamination on microbial population and soil enzyme activity. Most of the studies have tested non-natural and short-term oil pollution and reported the adverse effects of oil hydrocarbons on microbial activities in soil. While the soil sample used in this research had natural and long-term contamination and the microorganisms are compatible with polluted conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the microbial population and urease activity in the presence of different levels of oil contamination, and how petroleum hydrocarbons can affect them. Petroleum hydrocarbons are toxic and persistent in soil, so it is necessary to study the pattern of changes in soil biological characteristics in effective soil management. Material and MethodsIn this study, 120 samples of oil-contaminated soils were collected from the oil-rich area of Naft-Shahr (located in the west of Kermanshah province) which had natural and long-term oil pollution. A nested design was used to analysis data in this research. The test factors included locations (4 locations) and 3 different levels of oil pollution: low (L), moderate (M), and high (H). Also, 10 replications were considered in the three levels of oil contamination. The collected soils were analyzed for physico-chemical (pH, EC, Ɵm, CCE, OC, soil texture) and biological properties (including urease activity, BR and SIR) using standard methods, and the concentration of oil pollutants was determined by the Soxhlet extractor. To determine the abundance of the culturable microbial population, bacterial counting was performed using nutrient agar (NA) and carbon-free minimal medium (CFMM) supplemented with crude oil as the media. Urease activity was measured by the indophenol blue method and finally, the results of measuring chemical, physical and biological properties were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA). Results and Discussion The average percentage of oil measured by Soxhlet method was 4.03%, 9.95% and 22.50% respectively for L, M and H levels. The results showed that the microbial population increased with the increase of contamination intensity. The highest microbial population counted in NA culture medium was 9.54 ×105 CFU/g in H soils and the lowest population was 3.25 × 105 CFU/g in L soils. In the CFMM culture medium, the highest population in H soils was 11.3 × 105 CFU/g and the lowest population in L soils was 11.8 × 104 CFU/g. For both NA and CFMM mediums, location 1 had the highest population and location 4 had the lowest microbial population. Oil contamination of soil samples led to a decrease in urease activity in such a way that the highest enzyme activity in soils was obtained with low contamination (594.90 µgNH4/g.h) and the lowest activity in heavily contaminated soils (176.11 µgNH4/g.h). Also, the lowest urease activity was observed in location 1 and the highest in location 4. Principal components analysis (PCA) was also performed and 71% of the variance of the samples could be explained by the first two components (biochemical component and physical component). The results of this research indicated an increase in the microbial population with an increasing of the intensity of oil pollution. It seems that the results obtained from the studies conducted on man-made pollution and natural pollution have differences in terms of the type of biological responses. Aged, long-term and natural oil pollution has caused the selection of oil-resistant microbial community, and therefore we see their positive response to the presence of oil compounds. Conversely, urease enzyme activity was found to be higher in soils with low pollution. This suggests that microbial activity, while influential, is not the sole determinant of urease activity, and various factors contribute to Soil Enzyme Activity (SEA). The type of petroleum pollutant, the direct effect of petroleum compounds on urease-producing microorganisms, as well as the non-microbial origin of urease in soil can be possible reasons for reducing urease activity in contaminated soils. ConclusionIn areas where petroleum pollutants are naturally and long-term present in the soil, some oil-decomposing microbial groups use petroleum hydrocarbons as a source of carbon for their nutrition, so the abundance of oil-decomposing communities increases. The results showed an increase in the microbial population with an increase in the intensity of oil pollution. On the other hand, the activity of urease enzyme measured in soils with low pollution was higher because non-microbial factors may affect the activity of this enzyme and the increase in the microbial population is not related to the increase in the population of urease-producing microbes.
A. Nemati; A. Golchin; A. Ghavidel
Abstract
Introduction: Crude oil is one of the most important sources of energy and its large scale production, transmission, consumption and disposal, making it one of the most important and common types of environmental pollution worldwide. Oil extraction and various oil products have led to spread of pollution ...
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Introduction: Crude oil is one of the most important sources of energy and its large scale production, transmission, consumption and disposal, making it one of the most important and common types of environmental pollution worldwide. Oil extraction and various oil products have led to spread of pollution in the soils around oil extraction and refining sites. During the production and transportation of crude oil, unsuitable operation and leakage may result in contamination of soil with petroleum hydrocarbons. Great concern in this case is the environmental risks of these pollutants. During the past decades, bioremediation of petroleum contaminated soil has been a hot issue in environmental research, and many bioremediation strategies have been developed and improved to clean up petroleum polluted soil. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of co-using of different bioremediation strategies on remediation of crude oil contaminated soil.
Materials and Methods: In order to investigate the effects of co-using phytoremediation and bioremediation in a crude oil contaminated soil, a factorial experiment in completely randomized design with three replications was conducted. The factors were three levels of crude oil contamination (0 wt% (C0), 2 wt% (C1) and 4 wt% (C2() and four treatments of remediation (Grass (B1), Alfalfa (B2), Grass + Pseudomonas Putida+ Phanerochaete Chrysosporium (B3), Alfalfa + Pseudomonas Putida+ Phanerochaete Chrysosporium (B4), control (B0)). For amendment of contaminated soil, soil samples were artificially contaminated with crude oil (from Tabriz Oil Refinery) and blended to soil (10% total quantity of soil spiked) then spiked soils were progressively mixed with unpolluted soil and homogenized. After preparation of the crude oil-spiked soil microbial inoculation were done and then the samples were packed into soil columns and then plants cultivation was done in soil columns (P.V.C pipes). At the end of growth period, some parameters were measured including residual Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs) concentration, microbial basal respiration and dry weight of root and shoot.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that TPHs concentration in C1 crude oil level by B3 and B4 remediation treatments decreased by 59% and 57%, respectively, and in C2 level B3 and B4 remediation treatments decreased TPHs content by 41% and 39%, respectively. B3 remediation treatment had the highest shoot and root dry weight and the lowest root and shoot dry weight observed from B2 remediation treatment. Shoot and root dry weight decreased with increasing crude oil contamination levels. The highest basal respiration rate was observed in B3 and B4 remediation treatments. In all of crude oil levels, there was not significant difference between B1 and B2 remediation treatments and control (B0) in basal respiration rate. In the highest crude oil contamination level (C2) the amount of carbon produced as CO2 increased because this level has higher concentration of oil pollutants and therefore has more required substrate for the activity of microorganisms, and consequently more microbial activities increased CO2 production. Compared to the control, the levels of crude oil contamination (C1 and C2) decreased dry weight of root by 46% and 61%, respectively and dry weight of shoot by 53% and 63%, respectively. Considering that the high concentrations of oil contaminants in the soil can lead to toxicity for plants and microorganisms and also hydrophilic properties of these compounds can decrease the availability of moisture and nutrients for plants root, therefore the growth of root decreased in oil contaminated soil. In lower level of crude contamination (C1), remediation treatments have more effective role in refining crude oil. This results from more plant growth and then more plant roots which increase the bioavailability of hydrocarbons by reducing the volume of soil micro pores. Also plants root release organic compounds which would increase the population and activity of soil microbes and these cause to increase of oil compounds degradation and elimination.
Conclusion: Experimental results showed that remediation treatments which contained bacteria and fungi with plants caused to more oil compounds elimination, microbial basal respiration and dry weight of root and shoot. Therefore, it can be found the importance of the presence of microorganisms and the microbial activity with plants in order to degrade and remove the soil oil compounds.
Keywords: Bioremediation, Oil pollution, Residual oil compounds, Microbial basal respiration
