Influence of phosphorus and organic matter on microbial transformation of arsenic

Experiment was conducted with an arsenic polluted soil (16.5 mg kg(-1)) to investigate different level of organic matter and phosphorus on microbial transformation of arsenic with two bacterial strain viz Citrobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp.. Organic matter application as FYM @ 10 t ha(-1) decreased the total (12.57 and 12.33 mg kg(-1)) and extractable soil arsenic (1.07 and 0.87 mg kg(-1)) significantly; and increased the bacterial population (144.33 and 200.83 CFU x 10(7)), microbial biomass carbon (676.33 and 848.67 mg kg(-1)) and extractable soil phosphorus (14.43 and 14.80 mg kg(-1)) in arsenic polluted soil with Citrobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp., respectively. Addition of phosphorus @ 15 mg kg(-1) significantly reduced the total soil arsenic (8.77 and 8.60 mg kg(-1)) with Citrobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp., respectively. The best result was obtained by Pseudomonas sp. than Citrobacter sp.. Thus organic matter and phosphorus along with bacterial strains have ability to mitigate the arsenic polluted soil and can be used for bio-remediation. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.