Toxicity assessment of pollutants in the marine environment of Kuwait using Microbial bioassay

Abstract

The Arabian Gulf offers a suitable location for investigating the potential impact of toxic chemicals on marine life, because it is a semienclosed, relatively shallow, small body of water. This study was carried out to evaluate the relative sensitivity, precision, and accuracy of three published microbial bioassay procedures to ascertain their ability to detect toxicity in the marine environment of Kuwait.The bioassay procedures used were dissolved oxygen depletion (DOD), viable plate count (VPC), and optical density (OD). Mixed marine bacteria isolated from the local seawater of Kuwait was used, and test samples (pollutants) investigated include mercuric chloride (HgCl,), lindane, and a wastewater samples.The DOD technique was evaluated as best for sensitivity of testing toxicity. In both