Absorption of NIP by several soil-borne fungal mycelium was studied with the view to understanding the fate of the herbicide in the soil.
Three species of fungi isolated from soil were inoculated onto NIP-Czapek medium and cultured at 28°C. After culturing for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 days, NIP was extracted from the medium with
n-hexane, and then subjected to gas-liquid chromato-graphical analysis under the conditions as shown in Fig. 1. The analytical results showed that 50-70% of NIP remained in the medium after 2 days and only 10-15% after 6 days incubation (Fig. 5).
To clarify the mechanism for decrease of NIP in the medium,
F. oxysporum was used for the following experiments. Fifty mg of the fresh mycelium was added to the NIP-Czapek medium, the mixture was shaken for a period of 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2 and 3 hours. All tubes, without relation to shaking period, gave 85-90% decrease of NIP in the extracts (Fig. 6). Judging from the result, it seems likely that the decrease of NIP in the medium is mainly due to absorption by the fungal mycelium.
The quantity of NIP in the
n-hexane extracted from the NIP-Czapek medium decreased with increase in mycelial weight added in the medium (Fig. 7).
Absorption of NIP by dead (auto-claving) mycelium from the NIP-Czapek medium was recognized as in the case of using of fresh mycelium, but the decreasing percentage of NIP was lower (Fig. 8).
The maximum absorption level of NIP by
F. oxysporum was estimated by successive treatments with constant concentration of NIP in the medium. As shown in Fig. 9, after the 97th replacement mycelium would not absorb NIP. The total quantity of NIP after 97th replacements was calculated at 2.712γ per mg fresh weight.
View full abstract