Abstract
Imidacloprid, a toxic pesticide of the chloronicotinyl category, is employed extensively in agricultural fields, and its exposure causes serious health issues. Biodegradation is considered to be a green and economical approach to remediate pesticides. Herein, imidacloprid degradation efficiency of Bacillus sp. is highlighted, among which Bacillus cereus exhibited the greatest degradation; optimization of experimental variables (pH, imidacloprid and agitation time) via Box-Behnken factorial design and analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed 92% biodegradation at the initial substrate concentration of 0.03 mM, aerobically in 11 days under favorable pH 7. The subsequent metabolites, identified through liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, were 5-hydroxy imidacloprid, imidacloprid-guanidine and 6-chloronicotinic acid.