Spirulinaculture in sea-water

✍ Scribed by Riccardo Materassi; Mario Tredici; Waldemaro Balloni

• Book ID: 104779670
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 313 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00454374

✦ Synopsis

Laboratory experiments using small raceway ponds have shown that Spirulina maxima can be adapted easily to grow in sea-water supplemented with nitrate, phosphate, bicarbonate, and Fe-EDTA. To prevent precipitate formation, phosphate was supplied by diffusion through a dialysis membrane; the amount of Na-bicarbonate added was low (100 ppm) and the pH was kept in the range 8.6-8.8 by bubbling CO2 into the culture.

No significant differences have been noticed in productivity or in the chemical composition of the biomass between cultures in sea-water and in the standard bicarbonate medium. Cultures subjected to light/dark cycles of 12/12 h showed a higher respiration rate in sea-water than in the bicarbonate medium.

The higher weight loss in the sea-water medium in the dark was counterbalanced by an increased synthesis of carbohydrates during the light period.