The presence of plants stimulates soil microbiota, which may contribute to soil remediation. It is of great interest to quantify these effects on heterotrophic microorganisms due to their practical and ecological relevance. The following factors were evaluated: bacterial cell density, enzymatic activity, bacterial community structure and the spontaneous occurrence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the plant rhizosphere in an area of land farming of petrochemical wastes, using a rhizospheric soil under five plants and control soil without plants. The following evaluation methods were applied: microorganism plate counts, molecular methods, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and gene sequencing, colorimetric methods for enzymes and percentage of root colonization, counting and identification of AMF spores. Total and anthracene degrading microbial density were stimulated by the presence of plants, with average counts of 1.5x10(6) and 2.2x10(6) CFU g dry soil-1, respectively, while soil without plants soil counts were 5.7x10(5) and 2.9x10(5) CFU g dry soil-1 for the respective microbial groups. The species Bidens pilosa and Eleusine indica had the highest stimulatory effects on microbial density. No stimulating plant effects of soil enzymatic activity were verified. Root mycorrhizal colonization (around 40 %) and AMF spore density was high in rhizopheric soils (between 900 and 4,800 spores 50 mL soil-1), especially in B. decumbens. Four AMF species were identified in this soil: Acaulospora morrowiae, Glomus intraradices, Paraglomus occultum and Archaeospora trappei. Aside from G. intraradices, this is the first report of the occurrence of these species in petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated areas. The DGGE analysis revealed existence of different bacterial communities in different treatments. The isolated anthracene degrading bacteria were related with the genera: Streptomyces, Nocardioides, Arthrobacter, Pseudoxanthomonas and non-identified genera of the families Cellulomonadaceae, Xanthomonadaceae and Rhodobacteraceae. Four of the identified genera belong to the actinomycetes. Only Nocardioides and the isolate related to the Cellulomonadaceae family have already been reported in areas contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbon in Brazil. In conclusion the presence of plants enhances soil bacterial cell density and alters the bacterial community in landfarming of petrochemical wastes.
rhizosphere; petroleum; anthracene degrader microorganism; arbuscular mycorrhiza; DGGE; 16S rRNA
