DECOMPOSITION OF 2,2-DICHLOROPROPIONIC ACID BY SOIL BACTERIA

Abstract

Eight bacteria capable of decomposing 2,2-dichloropropionate (dalapon) were isolated from soil by means of enrichment techniques and selective media. The decomposition was demonstrated by the clearing of a solid medium containing mineral salts, dalapon, and CaCO₃; by a lowering of the pH of a liquid medium containing dalapon as the carbon source; by the increase in chloride ion in the liquid medium; and by the consumption of oxygen by three of the isolates when dalapon was the sole carbon source. Six of these were tentatively classified as Agrobacterium and two were tentatively classified as Pseudomonas, although there was much overlapping of characteristics. These organisms and many unidentified actinomycetes, molds, and bacteria, including a Micrococcus species, overcame the inhibitory effect of dalapon on an agar-decomposing bacterium when grown on the same plate.