Search

Tebuconazole (TBZ) is a widely used triazole fungicide at EU level on cereals and vines. It is relatively persistent in soil where it is transformed to various transformation products (TPs) which might be environmentally relevant. We assessed the dissipation of TBZ in soil under contrasting incubation conditions (standard vs winter simulated) that are relevant to its application scheme, determined its transformation pathway using advanced analytical tools and 14 C-labeled TBZ and assessed its soil microbial toxicity. Mineralization of 14 C-triazole-ring-labeled TBZ was negligible but up to 11% of 14 C-penyl-ring-labeled TBZ evolved as 14 CO 2 within 150 days of incubation. TBZ persistence increased at higher dose rates (×10 compared to the recommended agronomical dose ×1) and under winter simulated conditions compared to standard incubation conditions (at ×1 dose rate DT 50 of 202 and 88 days, respectively). Non-target suspect screening enabled the detection of 22 TPs of TBZ, among which 17 were unknown. Mass spectrometry analysis led to the identification of 1-(4-chlorophenyl) ethanone, a novel TP of TBZ, the formation of which and decay in soil was determined by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Three hypothetical transformation pathways of TBZ, all converging to 1H-1,2,4-triazole are proposed based on suspect screening. The ecotoxicological effect of TBZ and of its TPs was assessed by measuring by qPCR the abundance of the total bacteria and the relative abundance of 11 prokaryotic taxa and 4 functional groups. A transient impact of TBZ on the relative abundance of all prokaryotic taxa (except α-proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes) and one functional microbial group (pcaH-carrying microorganisms) was observed. However the direction of the effect (positive or negative) varied, and in certain cases, depended on the incubation conditions. Proteobacteria was the most responsive phylum to TBZ with recovery observed 20 days after treatment. The ecotoxicological effects on the soil microorganisms were not correlated with 1-(4-chlorophenyl) ethanone., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In the present work, the effect of the carbon source on microbial community structure in batch cultures derived from industrial sludge and hexavalent chromium reduction was studied. Experiments in aerobic batch reactors were carried out by amending industrial sludge with two different carbon sources: sodium acetate and sucrose. In each of the experiments performed, four different initial Cr(VI) concentrations of: 6, 13, 30 and 115 mg/L were tested. The change of carbon source in the batch reactor from sodium acetate to sucrose led to a 1.3-2.1 fold increase in chromium reduction rate and to a 5- to 9.5-fold increase in biomass. Analysis of the microbial structure in the batch reactor showed that the dominant communities were bacterial species (Acinetobacter lwoffii, Defluvibacter lusatiensis, Pseudoxanthomonas japonensis, Mesorhizium chacoense, and Flavobacterium suncheonense) when sodium acetate was used as carbon source and fungal strains (Trichoderma viride and Pichia jadinii), when sodium acetate was replaced by sucrose. These results indicate that the carbon source is a key parameter for microbial dynamics and enhanced chromium reduction and should be taken into account for efficient bioreactor design., (Copyright 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)