DEGRADATION OF BROMOXYNIL, IOXYNIL, DICHLOBENIL AND THEIR MIXTURES BYAGROBACTERIUM-RADIOBACTER-8 4/

Degradation of three benzonitrile herbicides, bromoxynil (3,5-dibromo- 4-hydroxybenzonitrile), ioxynil (3,5-diiodo-4-hydroxybenzonitrile), di chlobenil (2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile), and their mixtures by the soil m icro-organism Agrobacterium radiobacter 8/4 was studied in batch cultu res. Bromoxynil was found to be most rapidly degraded, while dichloben il had the lowest toxicity to our strain. All transformations of studi ed benzonitriles were performed by the nitrile hydratase which has bee n shown to act on a broad range of substituted aromatic nitriles.