Abstract
Atrazine causes serious contamination of agricultural soils and groundwater. This study investigated the influence mechanism of sterilized soil (CKs), unsterilized soil (CKn), sterilized soil amended with 45 (SsV1), 60 (SsV2), 75 (SsV3) days of vermicompost (the maturity days of vermicompost), and unsterilized soil amended with 45 (SnV1), 60 (SnV2), 75 (SnV3) days of vermicompost on atrazine catabolism. The atrazine degradation experiment lasted for 40 days. The results showed that the atrazine degradation rates for CKs, CKn, SsV1, SsV2, SsV3, SnV1, SnV2, and SnV3 were 24%, 56.9%, 62.8%, 66.1%, 65.9%, 87.5%, 92.9%, and 92.3%, respectively. Indigenous microorganisms capable of degrading atrazine were present in unsterilized soil, and the addition of vermicompost enhanced atrazine degradation. The humic acid content of SnV2 was the highest, at 4.11 g/kg, which was 71.97% higher than that of CKn. The addition of the vermicompost enhanced the production of hydroxyatrazine, deethylatrazine, and deisopropylatrazine. Vermicompost increased the abundance of atrazine-degrading bacteria (Mycobacterium, Devosia, etc.), and introduced new atrazine-degrading bacteria (Mesorhizobium, Demequina). The above results showed that the best degradation of atrazine was achieved with 60 days of vermicompost addition. This study provides a new, efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly strategy for the remediation of atrazine-contaminated soil.