Quantifying the Interactive Inhibitory Effect of Heavy Metals on the Growth and Phosphorus Removal of Pseudomonas taeanensis

This study was initiated to quantitatively evaluate the effects of five heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Ni) on growth and P removal efficiencies of Pseudomonastaeanensis, known as the phosphorus accumulating microorganism. The heavy metals were added individually and with the binary mixture to the batch culturing system of Pseudomonastaeanensis. $IC_{50}$ and $EC_{50}$ were used to quantitatively evaluate their effects on the growth and phosphorus removal efficiency of Pseudomonas taeanensis in those treatments. Additionally, additive index value method was used to evaluate the interactive effects of heavy metals for Pseudomonas taeanensis in this study. As those heavy metals were singly added to Pseudomonastaeanensis, the greatest inhibitory effect on its growth and P removal efficiency was observed in Cd, whereas, the smallest effect was found in Ni. As the concentrations of all heavy metals added were gradually increased, its growth and P removal efficiency was correspondingly decreased. Specifically, $IC_{50}$ of Pseudomonas taeanensis for Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Ni were $0.44mg\;L^{-1}$, $5.12mg\;L^{-1}$, $7.46mg\;L^{-1}$, $8.37mg\;L^{-1}$ and $14.56mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively. The P removal efficiency of Pseudomonas taeanensis was 81.1%. $EC_{50}$ values of Pseudomonas taeanensis for Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Ni were $0.44mg\;L^{-1}$, $4.08mg\;L^{-1}$, $7.17mg\;L^{-1}$, $8.90mg\;L^{-1}$ and $11.26mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively. In the binary treatments of heavy metals, the lowest $IC_{50}$ and $EC_{50}$ were found in the Cd + Cu treatment, whereas, the highest $IC_{50}$ and $EC_{50}$ were found in the Zn + Pb and Pb + Ni treatments, respectively. Most of the interactive effects for the binary mixture treatments of heavy metals were antagonistic. Based on the results obtained from this study, it appears that they could provide the basic information about the toxic effects of the respective individual and binary treatments of heavy metals on the growth and P removal efficiency of other phosphorus accumulating organisms.