mycoremediation of dichlorvos pesticide contaminated soilby pleurotus pulmonarius(fries) quelet

The extensive use of pesticides leads to accumulation of a huge amount of residues in the environment. as such, thepresent study investigatesthe potentialityof pleurotus pulmonariusto bioremediate dichlorvos pesticides (2,2-dichlorovinyldimethylphosphate) in contaminated soil. ddvp-polluted soilshave been contaminatedin fiveconcentrations (5% v/w, 10% v/w, 15% v/w, 20% v/w,and 25% v/w), and the soil samples have beeninoculated and incubated with pure culture of growing spawns of p. pulmonarius,obtained from commercial mushroom laboratory of federal institute of industrial research oshodi, lagos. the control, however,has not been inoculated. each treatment has beenin triplicateswiththesoils,analyzed for total amount of ddvp at day0 and day 60,using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. also, ph, moisture content,and total organic matter of the soil havebeendetermined. results show that the rate of ddvpdegradation in the soils with pleurotus pulmonariushas beenhigherthan thesoil samples without mushroom after 60days. however, for the control without mushroom(loss due to natural attenuation) and those inoculated with p. pulmonarius (bioremediation)the loss percentage of ddvp ascendedwith the percentage of pesticide from 5% to 25%. the ddvp loss across all different concentrations ofmushroom inoculation have beensignificant (p<0.05);however,for natural attenuation, it hasnot been significant (p>0.05),except for the lowestpesticide level (5%). activities of myceliahavedecreasedsoil ph, moisture content,and total organic matter. there has been a very minimal pesticide bioaccumulation in mushroom tissue,which hasnot been significant (p>0.05),but considerableat p<0.001, indicating that p. pulmonariushasthepotential to degrade ddvp pesticidesin soil.