Cd. Boyle, DEVELOPMENT OF A PRACTICAL METHOD FOR INDUCING WHITE-ROT FUNGI TO GROW INTO AND DEGRADE ORGANOPOLLUTANTS IN SOIL, Canadian journal of microbiology, 41(4-5), 1995, pp. 345-353
White-rot fungi degrade many hazardous organic compounds that are not
readily degraded by other microorganisms. Some of these compounds are
soil contaminants, so methods for using these fungi to decontaminate s
oil through either land farming or composting technologies are being d
eveloped. White-rot fungi normally colonize plants or plant residues (
e.g., wood) and do not grow well in unamended soil, particularly if it
is not sterilized. A practical method to promote their growth in soil
, without the use of large quantities of amendments or inoculum, is pr
esented. A variety of assays' showed that growth of white-rot fungi in
steamed soil is limited by availability of carbon and nitrogen source
s, but not other nutrients. Ground alfalfa straw was a more effective
inexpensive source of these nutrients than the other amendments that w
ere tested. However, the fungi only sometimes colonized alfalfa-amende
d nonsterile soil, as a result of competition from other microorganism
s. Consistently high growth of the white-rot fungi in alfalfa-amended
soil could be induced by adjusting the moisture content, adding the fu
ngicide benomyl, and inoculating with benomyl-resistant fungi. In soil
so treated, degradation (mineralization) of pentachlorophenol was muc
h more rapid than in untreated soil.