Effects of Corn Steep Liquor on Growth Rate and Pyrene Degradation by Pseudomonas strains

The growth rates and pyrene degradation rates of Pseudomonas sp. LP1 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa LP5 were increased in corn steep liquor (CSL) supplemented. On pyrene alone the highest specific growth rate of LP1 was 0.018 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. LP1 values of residual pyrene were 58.54 and 45.47%, respectively, for the unsupplemented and supplemented broth 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 LP1 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.