Isolation and partial characterization of organophosphate pesticide degrading bacteria from soil sample of Noakhali, Bangladesh

Abstract

As the demand for agricultural crops increases, so unsurprisingly does the need for pesticides. Bangladesh is no exception in its excessive and recurrent use of pesticides including malathion1. Malathion, S-(1,2-dicarbethoxyethyl)-O, O-dimethyl dithiophosphate, also known as carbophos, maldison and mercaptothion is a nonsystemic, wide-spectrum organophosphate insecticide used extensively to control a wide range of chewing and sucking insects in paddy fields of Bangladesh2. It is classified as a toxicity class III pesticide with a maximum permitted amount of 8 parts per million (ppm) of malathion to be present as a residue in specific crops used as foods by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA3.