Fate of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in sterile soils inoculated with the white-rot basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium: Mineralization, volatilization and depletion of PCP

Abstract The fate of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in three sterile soils inoculated with a white-rot basidiomycete, Phanerocaete chrysosporium , was investigated. Mineralization and volatilization of PCP and its transformation products and residual PCP concentration were measured for 2-months from soil microcosms inoculated with P. chrysosporium or left non-inoculated. There was a dramatic decrease (ave. decrease 98%) in the cxtractable PCP concentration in inoculated soils compared to that in non-inoculated soils (ave. decrease 43%). In the three inoculated soils, the greatest loss of PCP was during the first week. Initial rates of PCP depletion varied by soil. Differences among these soils in quantities of soil nutrients available for fungal growth, particularly carbon and nitrogen, may have been indirectly responsible for the differences by influencing the rates of soil colonization. Pentachlorophenol mineralized or evolved as volatile products was slight in the three soils. Our results suggest that P. chrysosporium removes PCP per se from soils primarily by converting it to non-volatile products. The nature of the products, whether they arc cxtractable or soil-bound, is greatly influenced by soil type.