Optimization of Sulfonylurea Herbicide Degradation by Composite Microbial Agents and Their Application in Soil

Optimization of Sulfonylurea Herbicide Degradation by Composite Microbial Agents and Their Application in Soil | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Optimization of Sulfonylurea Herbicide Degradation by Composite Microbial Agents and Their Application in Soil Xingjie Li, Xin Wang, Jia Bao, Yang Liu, MengQin Yao This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9071993/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Sulfonylurea herbicides are widely used in agricultural production due to their high efficacy and selectivity. However, their high mobility and persistence in soil may pose potential risks to soil ecosystem health and subsequent crop growth. In this study, the degradation capacity of a composite microbial agent toward 12 sulfonylurea herbicides was systematically evaluated, and four representative herbicides were selected for environmental factor analysis. Furthermore, the remediation performance of the composite microbial agent in simulated contaminated soil was investigated, and changes in microbial community structure and dominant microbial taxa were analyzed before and after degradation.The results indicated that the composite microbial agent exhibited strong broad-spectrum degradation capability and was able to degrade all 12 tested sulfonylurea herbicides to varying extents. Under optimal conditions, the degradation rates in soil ranged from 50.0% to 75.8%. The most pronounced degradation was observed for bensulfuron, metosulfuron, amidosulfuron, and nicosulfuron, with degradation rates exceeding 85%. The optimal degradation conditions were determined to be an initial concentration of 50 mg/L, an incubation period of 20 days, a temperature of 20°C, and pH 7. Microbial community analysis further revealed that the dominant bacterial genera in the composite inoculum mainly included Pseudomonas , Achromobacter , and Variovorax , and the community structure remained relatively stable during the degradation process.This study provides new insights into the biodegradation of sulfonylurea herbicides and offers a theoretical basis for the sustainable management of herbicide-contaminated soils. sulfonylurea herbicides composite microbial agent sulfosulfuron bensulfuron metosulfuron amidosulfuron Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9071993","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":606447243,"identity":"7ec4ec0c-7b56-4af9-a195-08a5f1c203de","order_by":0,"name":"Xingjie Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shenyang University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xingjie","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":606447244,"identity":"14a1767d-338d-49a0-a050-919676655764","order_by":1,"name":"Xin Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABBklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACAwYeNmbm4z8SKiB8CWK0yPCxtyVIfDjDwMBDnBYGBhs5njMGkjPbiNBicPzs4dc8BXd42CTSEox559Ul7mdgPnibh8EuD6eWM3lpljMMngG1JB9I5t12OLGHgS3ZmochuRiXFrMDOWYGHwwOg205zLvtAFALj5k0D8OBxAZcWs6/MTNIAGvJMWzmnVMH1ML/Db+WGznGD8C28JwxZpzZwAyyhQ2vFvsbb8wYZ4C0sLelMXw4dti45zCbseUcg2ScWiT7c4w/8/w5bC/fzHyMIaGmTra9vfnhjTcVdji1AAEbWiwwgwgD3OpBSj7glR4Fo2AUjIJRAACm6FN+EgPKbAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Shenyang University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xin","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":606447245,"identity":"5624f1d4-d73b-4bb6-9329-d073df8e0d2e","order_by":2,"name":"Jia Bao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shenyang University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jia","middleName":"","lastName":"Bao","suffix":""},{"id":606447246,"identity":"cd399a56-4a7a-4066-ae24-3d53c3e24ea9","order_by":3,"name":"Yang Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shenyang University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yang","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":606447247,"identity":"69ce2ce2-af23-42b3-a9db-55eac50b34ac","order_by":4,"name":"MengQin Yao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guizhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"MengQin","middleName":"","lastName":"Yao","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-09 11:08:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9071993/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9071993/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108265640,"identity":"46d2fca0-b51a-4bac-8ac5-db803e150d2a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-01 09:40:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":820876,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Study.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9071993/v1_covered_fd265bf8-17e9-48de-9506-b0208e5591f2.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Optimization of Sulfonylurea Herbicide Degradation by Composite Microbial Agents and Their Application in Soil","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"sulfonylurea herbicides, composite microbial agent, sulfosulfuron, bensulfuron, metosulfuron, amidosulfuron","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9071993/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9071993/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSulfonylurea herbicides are widely used in agricultural production due to their high efficacy and selectivity. However, their high mobility and persistence in soil may pose potential risks to soil ecosystem health and subsequent crop growth. In this study, the degradation capacity of a composite microbial agent toward 12 sulfonylurea herbicides was systematically evaluated, and four representative herbicides were selected for environmental factor analysis. Furthermore, the remediation performance of the composite microbial agent in simulated contaminated soil was investigated, and changes in microbial community structure and dominant microbial taxa were analyzed before and after degradation.The results indicated that the composite microbial agent exhibited strong broad-spectrum degradation capability and was able to degrade all 12 tested sulfonylurea herbicides to varying extents. Under optimal conditions, the degradation rates in soil ranged from 50.0% to 75.8%. The most pronounced degradation was observed for bensulfuron, metosulfuron, amidosulfuron, and nicosulfuron, with degradation rates exceeding 85%. The optimal degradation conditions were determined to be an initial concentration of 50 mg/L, an incubation period of 20 days, a temperature of 20\u0026deg;C, and pH 7. Microbial community analysis further revealed that the dominant bacterial genera in the composite inoculum mainly included \u003cem\u003ePseudomonas\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eAchromobacter\u003c/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eVariovorax\u003c/em\u003e, and the community structure remained relatively stable during the degradation process.This study provides new insights into the biodegradation of sulfonylurea herbicides and offers a theoretical basis for the sustainable management of herbicide-contaminated soils.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Optimization of Sulfonylurea Herbicide Degradation by Composite Microbial Agents and Their Application in Soil","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-27 19:49:52","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9071993/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"f98a55da-ad32-47a6-a217-e5113e8079f6","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 27th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-01T09:40:28+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-27 19:49:52","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9071993","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9071993","identity":"rs-9071993","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}