Rietti-Shati, M., Dept. of Environmental Science and Energy Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel, Soil and Water Inst. Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet-Dagan, 50250, Israel
Ronen, D., Dept. of Environmental Science and Energy Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel
Mandelbaum, R.T., Soil and Water Inst. Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet-Dagan, 50250, Israel

Sol-gel entrapment was evaluated as a method for immobilization of an atrazine degrading Pseudomonas. It was found that the bacterium lost much of its atrazine degrading activity upon immobilization. However, partial activity could have been restored by amendment of nutrients. Bacteria immobilized using a prehydrolysis technique for the preparation of the sol-gel, retained better activity in comparison to bacteria immobilized using a composite calcium alginate/sol-gel procedure. Further study is underway to improve the activity of sol-gel entrapped bacteria. © 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers.