GROWTH OF PSEUDOMONAS SPECIES ISOLATED FROM ALGERIAN AGRICULTURAL SOILS IN THE PRESENCE OF ABAMECTINH. Slimani, A. Abdi, Z. Branes and I. BatissonAbstract Abamectin is a broad spectrum highly effective acaricide, insecticide, and antiparasitic agent. Studies about the microbial degradation of abamectin are still rare and only three abamectin-degrading bacterial strains were isolated until now. In this paper, we reported the isolation and molecular characterization of bacterial strains isolated from three soils located in eastern Algeria, and the evaluation of their ability to grow in the presence of abamectin. Out of a total of 48 Gram negative and Gram positive bacterial strains identified, seven strains were able to develop on agar in the medium of mineral salt different concentrations of the tested insecticide. The four bacteria showing the best growth capacity were identified as being Pseudomonas mediterranea isolate PSB47, Pseudomonas sp. OX1, Pseudomonas migulae strain OKB3, and Pseudomonas sp. clone 6A4 and were tested for their ability to grow in the presence of abamectin as the only energy and carbon sources. In general way, these strains showed a slow but a significant growth visualized by the monitoring of absorbance at 600 nm, suggesting they could be used for bioremediation of polluted soil with abamectin. |