ASIFA YOUSUF WANI, ZAHOOR AHMED BABA, MUSHTAQ AHMAD MALIK, TAHIR AHMED SHEIKH, FEHIM JEELANI WANI AND SHAISTA PARVEEN
Abstract
The effectiveness of bacteria to resist changes in the environment with respect to metal accumulation in the soil was the main aim of the study. Soil Samples obtained mainly from agricultural land uses of South and North district of Kashmir, J&K showed no alarming levels of Cadmium accumulation although with continuous and bulk use of chemicals mainly fertilizers and pesticides may become problematic in the years to come. Out of seven isolates (AXCd1, AXCd10, AXCd6, AXCd7, AXCd8, AXCd9 and PDYCd42) obtained from the soil samples, isolate AXCd8 significantly exhibited better performance in tolerating different doses of Cadmium metal in nutrient agar media amended with Chloride salt solution (CdCl3). The bacterial population decreased with the increase in the concentration of the metal with isolates resisting concentration of 100 ppm were selected for further analysis. MIC of 150 ppm was exhibited by the isolate AXCd8 while isolates AXCd7, AXCd9, AXCd10, AXCd6, PDYCd 42 showed MIC of 120 ppm. However, during in vitro evaluation of these bacterial strains, percent bioaccumulation was calculated significantly maximum by isolate AXCd8 (48.9%)>AXCd7 (45.70%)>AXCd9 (42.15%)>AXCd10 (41.68%)>AXCd6(34.97%)>PDYCd42(30.8). Atomic Absorption spectrometry was used to estimate the presence of cadmium in soil samples as well as in the growing media to evaluate bioaccumulation (%). Molecular analysis of isolate AXCd8 showed the phylogenetic resemblance with Pseudomonads family and was identified as Pseudomonas putida.