Metabolism of carbofuran by Aspergillus niger and Fusarium graminearum.

Metabolism of carbofuran in pure liquid cultures of A. niger and F. graminearum was investigated. Carbofuran and its metabolites were analyzed by HPLC and TLC. The average recoveries of carbofuran, 3-hydroxycarbofuran, 3-ketocarbofuran, and 3-ketocarbofuran phenol from fungi media were found to be 88.65, 86.19, 75.48, and 80.48%, while their detection limits were 0.035, 0.031, 0.015 and 0.140 ppm, respectively. The data showed that A. niger was capable of degrading carbofuran more faster than F. graminearum. Carbofuran disappeared biexponentially from the liquid culture media of both fungi. The terminal half-life values of carbofuran were 10.4 and 12 days in the media of A. niger and F. graminearum, respectively. The amounts of carbofuran reached 15.56 and 19.71% of the applied dose after 21 days in case of A. niger and F. graminearum, respectively. Carbofuran was biotransformed to 3-hydroxycarbofuran, 3-ketocarbofuran, and 3-ketocarbofuran phenol. The percentages of the major metabolite, 3-hydroxycarbofuran were 47.72 and 7.77% in case of A. niger and F. graminearum after 21 days, respectively.