Petroleum Hydrocarbons Degradation Potential of Autochthonous Bacteria from Saline Soil

4 microbial communities and 8 isolates were obtained from 4 petroleum contaminated saline soil samples in Yellow River Delta,an important base of petroleum production in China.Their abilities to transform diesel oil,crude oil,n-alkanes and PAHs as well as their counts were monitored.The results showed that the obtained strains were slightly halophilic bacteria and different strains had different endurance and degradation characteristic to substrates.Biodegradation potential of microbial communities was stronger than individual isolates.Hexadecane and phenanthrene were easier to be biodegraded than mixed compounds,such as crude oil and diesel oil.Isolates of I-2,3,5,7 could utilize PAHs well and had better abilities to utilize crude oil than diesel oil.I-1,4,6,8 could utilize diesel oil better.The highest biodegradation rates of crude oil,diesel oil,hexadecane and phenanthrene were 70.7%,78.4%,87.7% and 88.1%,respectively.These data indicated that indigenous bacteria had great potential to degrade crude oil and would be applied in bioremediation of oil-contaminated saline soil.