| Abstract: | A key issue when researching land degradation is the pollution of soils. For bioremediation of contaminated soil, Burkholderia sp. XTB‐5 cells were obtained from soil and grown on mineral salt medium with initial phenol concentrations of 650 mg L−1 and 850 mg L−1, which were found to degrade more than 98% of phenol content in less than 4 days. About 90% of phenol content (with initial concentration of 250 mg kg−1 soil) was removed from soil inoculated with XTB‐5 cells in 6 days. More than 90% of phenol content was removed within 20 days after co‐introduction of XTB‐5 cells and plants to sterilized soil in a greenhouse or to natural soil in field trials. But under the same conditions, individual introduction of plants to sterilized soil in the greenhouse reduced phenol content by about 50% and introduction to natural soil in field trials reduced phenol content by about 38%, suggesting that phytoremediation of phenol is often inefficient and microorganisms can efficiently degrade this pollutant. In addition, strain XTB‐5 was found to solubilize phosphate and produce 1‐Aminocyclopropane‐1‐Carboxylate (ACC) deaminase and siderophore. Strain XTB‐5 promoted plant growth in both phenol‐absent and phenol‐spiked soil under greenhouse and field conditions. Considering that ACC deaminase is beneficial to plant growth under adverse environmental conditions, plant growth promotion by XTB‐5 in phenol‐contaminated soil is not only due to XTB‐5 cell‐degradation of phenol and reduced phytotoxicity but also to production of ACC deaminase. Hence, Burkholderia sp. XTB‐5 presents an attractive microorganism for phytoremediation of contaminated soil and agronomic application. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
