DISTRIBUTION OF MICROORGANISMS THAT PRODUCE BIOSURFACTANTS IN CONTAMINATED AND NON-CONTAMINATED SOILS: ECOLOGICALLY FRIENDLY PERSPECTIVES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION
Coordinator: Ognen Boshkovski
The increase in agricultural production to meet food needs in the face of steady population growth has led to the explicit use of agrochemicals, which destroy agroecosystems due to their long residence time in the environment (Adesemoye et al., 2009). The use of chemical surfactants leads to a significant increase in the toxicity of agrochemicals and has a negative impact on sustainable environmental management (Altieri, 2004). Chemical surfactants enter water resources, where they contaminate drinking water and, by foaming, create a hypoxic environment that negatively affects aquatic organisms. Microbial biosurfactants have low toxicity, better biodegradability and environmental compatibility, and can serve as substitutes for chemical surfactants. Their bioremediation potential can improve soil ecosystems and the solubility of toxic pesticides (Mosttafiz et al., 2012). However, very little is known about the distribution of biosurfactant-producing microorganisms in the environment, so the project aims to study their distribution in contaminated and undisturbed soils in North Macedonia. After the isolation, the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the isolated strains were defined. The geochemical parameters of the collected soil samples were also determined to expand the potential industrial importance of Bacillus spp. and explain the role of these bacteria in the soil ecosystem.