Microbial biomass yield and turnover in soil biodegradation tests: carbon substrate effects |
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Authors: | Emo Chiellini Andrea Corti Salvatore D’Antone Norman C Billingham |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, via Risorgimento 35, Pisa, 56126, Italy;(2) Department of Chemistry, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, UK |
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Abstract: | Most of the standardized biodegradation tests used to assess the ultimate biodegradation of environmentally degradable polymers
are based solely on the determination of net evolved carbon dioxide. However, under aerobic conditions, it has to be considered
that heterotrophic microbial consortia metabolize carbon substrates both to carbon dioxide and in the production of new cell
biomass. It is generally accepted that in the relatively short term, 50% of the carbon content of most organic substrates
is converted to CO2, with the remaining carbon being assimilated as biomass or incorporated into humus. The latter is particularly important
when the metabolism of the organic matter occurs in a soil environment. A straightforward relationship between the free-energy
content of a carbon substrate (expressed as the standard free-energy of combustion) and its propensity for conversion to new
microbial biomass rather than mineralization to CO2 has been established. This can potentially lead to underestimation of biodegradation levels of test compounds, especially
when they consist of carbon in a fairly low formal oxidation state and relatively high free-energy content. In the present
work, the metabolism of different kind of carbon substrates, especially in soil, is reviewed and compared with our own experimental
results from respirometric tests. The results show that conversion of highly oxidized materials, such as the commonly used
reference materials, cellulose or starch, to CO2 may be significantly overestimated. The addition of glucosidic material to soil leads to greatly increased respiration and
is accompanied by a very low conversion to biomass or humic substances. In contrast, relatively less oxidized substrates metabolize
more slowly to give both CO2 and biomass to an extent which may be significantly underestimated if glucosidic materials are used as the reference. The
need for an overall carbon balance taking into account both the carbon immobilized as biomass and that volatized as CO2 must be considered in standard respirometric procedures for assessing the biodegradability of slowly degrading macromolecules. |
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Keywords: | Biodegradation tests Carbon balance Cell biomass Metabolic efficiency Soil biodegradation Oxo-biodegradation |
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