Multidisciplinary assessment of pesticide mitigation in soil amended with vermicomposted agroindustrial wastes

Soil organic amendment affects biotic and abiotic processes that control the fate of pesticides, but the treatment history of the soil is also relevant. These processes were assessed in a multidisciplinary study with the aim of optimizing pesticide mitigation in soils. Soil microcosms pre-treated (E2) or not with diuron (E1) were amended with either winery (W) or olive waste (0) vermicomposts. Herbicide dissipation followed a double first-order model in El microcosms, but a single first-order model in E2. Also, diuron persistence was longer in El than in E2 (E1-DT50 > 200 day(-1), E2-DT50 < 16 day(-1)). The genetic structure of the bacterial community was modified by both diuron exposure and amendment. O-vermicompost increased enzymatic activities in both experiments, but diuron-degrading genetic potential (puhB) was quantified only in E2 microcosms in accordance with reduced diuron persistence. Therefore, O-vermicompost addition favoured the proliferation of diuron degraders, increasing the soil diuron-depuration capability. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.