Biodegradation of the herbicide trifluralin by bacteria isolated from soil.

Trifluralin (alpha,alpha,alpha-trifluoro-2,6-dinitro-N,N-dipropyl-p-toluidine; TFL) is a pre-emergence, soil-incorporated herbicide that has been in agricultural use since the early 1960s and is moderately persistent in soil. The purpose of this study was to isolate and characterise TFL-resistant bacteria from a soil in which this pesticide has been used for the last four decades and to determine their ability to degrade TFL using HPLC. Eight bacteria were isolated by repeated subculture in liquid medium with TFL as carbon source and a ninth (isolate 9) from growth around TFL crystals on solid medium.