Effect of Corn Steep liquor on growth rate and Pyrene Degradation by Pseudomonas strain

Abstract

The growth rates and pyrene degradation rates of Pseudomonas sp. LPl and Pseudomonas aeruginosa LP5 were increased in corn steep liquor (CSL) supplemented. On pyrene alone the higher specific growth rate of LPl was 0.818 h-1, while on CSL-supplemented pyrene MSM, the value was 0.026 h-1. For LP5 the highest growth rate on CSL-supplemented pyrene-MSM was 0.034 h-1. Conversely, on pyrene alone the highest rate was 0.024 h-1. CSL led to marked reduction in residual pyrene. In the case of Pseudomonas sp. LPl values of residual pyrene were 58.54 and 45.47 %, respectively, for the unsupplemented and supplanted both cultures, showing a difference of 13.09 %. For LP5 the corresponding values were 64.01 and 26.96 %, respectively, showing a difference of 37.05 %. The rate of pyrene utilization by LPl were 0.08 and 0.11 mg l-1 h-1 on unsupplemented and supplemented media, respectively. The corresponding values for LP5 were 0.07 and 0.015 mg l-1 h-1, respectively. These results suggest that CSL, a cheap and readily available waste product, could be very useful in the bioremediation of environments contaminated with pyrene.