ABSTRACT: Atrazine causes serious contamination of agricultural soils and groundwater. This study investigated the influence mechanism of sterilized soil (CKs), unsterilized soil (CKn), sterilized soil amended with 45 (SsV1), 60 (SsV2), 75 (SsV3) days of vermicompost (the maturity days of vermicompost), and unsterilized soil amended with 45 (SnV1), 60 (SnV2), 75 (SnV3) days of vermicompost on atrazine catabolism. The atrazine degradation experiment lasted for 40 days. The results showed that the atrazine degradation rates for CKs, CKn, SsV1, SsV2, SsV3, SnV1, SnV2, and SnV3 were 24%, 56.9%, 62.8%, 66.1%, 65.9%, 87.5%, 92.9%, and 92.3%, respectively. Indigenous microorganisms capable of degrading atrazine were present in unsterilized soil, and the addition of vermicompost enhanced atrazine degradatio
