Influence of petroleum products on the state of microbiocenosis of soil during short and medium terms of pollution

I. Malynovska¹, V. Bulgakov², J. Olt³ and A. Rucins⁴*

¹National Scientific Centre, Institute of Agriculture of NAAS of Ukraine, 2 b, Mashinobudivnikiv Str., Chabany vil., Kyiv-Svyatoshin Dist., UA08162 Kyiv Region, Ukraine
²National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, 15 Heroiv Oborony Str., UA03041 Kyiv, Ukraine
³Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Forestry and Engineering, 56 Fr.R. Kreutzwaldi Str., EE51006Tartu, Estonia
⁴Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Institute of Engineering and Energetics, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies, Ulbroka Research Centre, 1 Instituta Str., Ulbroka, Ropazu Region, Stopinu Municipality, LV 2130 Latvia
*Correspondence: adolfs.rucins@lbtu.lv

Abstract:

Bioremediation by autochthonous microbial communities is currently considered the main and most environmentally secure way how to remove petroleum products from contaminated soils. To study the possibilities to control the processes of biodegradation of aviation kerosene by indigenous communities of the soil together with plants and in the presence of a cometabolite (glucose), a model experiment was carried out with concentrations of aviation fuel from 0 to 20%. Soil without the addition of petroleum products served as reference. The state of the microbial community was studied 1 and 21 days after the addition of the petroleum products. It has been established that the soil contamination with petroleum products within one day leads to quantitative and qualitative changes in the state of the microbial cenosis, and the phytotoxicity of the soil significantly increases. At low concentrations of the petroleum products (1%) the occurrence of microbiological processes in the soil slows down, and at high concentrations (20%) they intensify. It has been shown that an increase in the number of polysaccharide-synthesising bacteria increases not only the absolute amount of degraded petroleum products from 0.240 to 1.88 g kg^-1, but also their relative share from 6.33%. Growing plants and adding easily accessible substrates to the soils contaminated with petroleum products ensures more active destruction of pollutants (by 63.6 and 45.5%, respectively) compared to the soils without phytocenosis and the addition of exogenous substrates.

Key words:

ecological and trophic groups, humus, microbiocenosis, mineralization, pollution with petroleum products, toxicity