Sludge Watch ==> Detergent Compounds Produce Bacteria Alterations in Agricultural Soils

[Maureen Reilly]

Chemical Compound In Detergents Produce Bacteria Alterations In Agricultural 
Soils
ScienceDaily

(Nov. 13, 2007)


— Detergents are a pollutant agent which can be found frequently in 
agricultural soils. There are numerous channels for the passing of chemical 
components to the soils. Two primary ways are the use of distilled water 
(both of domestic and industrial origin), and of fertilizers based out of 
biological mixtures. A study done by the Institute of Water and the 
Department of Microbiology at the University of Granada, directed by Dr. 
Maria del Mar Sánchez Peinado , stress the importance of controlling the 
contamination of our farm grounds. This is due to the increasing presence of 
linear alkyl benzene sulphonate, a chemical component whose active 
ingredient can be found in most detergents.

The research project, carried out by three professors, Clementina Pozo 
Llorente , Maria Belén Rodelas González, and Maria Victoria Martínez Toledo, 
was financed by the Ministry of Education. This study has proven to be an 
important advancement towards further understanding of agricultural soils as 
a receptor of these pollutant compounds, as well as the impact of such 
compounds on the microbial community, and its microbiotic role on 
agricultural soils with regards to LAS biodegradation processes. The field 
work of this study was conducted in the lowlands of Spain, researching LAS 
biotransformation capacity with regards to microbiota as well as its 
biotransformation kinetics.

The most utilized

At this moment LAS is the most used anionic surfactant in the worldwide 
detergent market. Its international consumption reaches values of 2,000 kt 
per year and by the year 2010 it is expected to reach values of up to 3,400 
kt per year. However, the UGR scientists believe that its high global 
production, the need to use it and the toxicity of its initial forms and of 
some of its waste products “determine the need to control it in different 
environmental circumstances.”

This research work goes deeply, from chemical, microbiological and molecular 
techniques, into the impact of LAS in the structure, function and 
composition of the microbial community in the soil ecosystem. Likewise, the 
scientists have analyzed the biodegradation capacity of this pollutant in 
fields with regards to the microbial community combining techniques 
corresponding to different knowledge areas, such as microbiology, analytical 
chemistry and microbiology.

With regards to agricultural soils, ¨the use of biological mud as a 
fertilizer and the great demand for water due to agricultural needs are the 
main means ways that LAS reaches the fields.¨ A unique ecosystem, where 
biological interactions and biogeochemical processes, associated to organic 
material degradation and mineral elements transformation for plant nutrition 
are especially intense.

The scientists of the University of Granada warn about the negative effects 
of LAS “LAS could significantly alter the metabolic activity of soils, 
therefore affecting their fertility.”

Adapted from materials provided by Universidad de Granada.

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Detergents Produce Bacteria Alterations In Agricultural Soils. ScienceDaily. 
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