Isolation of chlorimuron-ethyl degrading strains from contaminated soil

Six bacterial strains with chlorimuron-ethyl degrading ability were isolated from chlorimuron-ethyl contaminated soil by enrichment cultivation. The degradation of chlorimuron-ethyl was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The result showed that three stains, which were named as D3, L1 and L3, could efficiently degrade chlorimuron-ethyl. The degradation percentages of chlorimuron-ethyl were 80.41%, 81.1% and 83.28% for strain D3, L1 and L3, respectively. Based on the results of morphological observation, biochemical tests and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, these strains were identified as Bacillus subtilis (stain D3), Bacillus cereus (stain L1) and Bacillus megaterium (stain L3).