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Growth of Arthrospira platensis under laboratory and outdoor conditions: assessment of the effects of light and different nutrient media

João Carneiro1, Sílvia Gomes1, Marta Freitas1, Clélia N. Afonso1 and Teresa M. Mouga1*
  • 1 Escola Superior de Turismo e Tecnologia do Mar, Politécnico de Leiria, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Portugal

Microalgae production is currently regarded as a fast-growing industrial activity, offering a noteworthy potential in several fields of science and healthcare, and a promising contribution to environment management. Standing as the most widely cultivated microalgae, Arthrospira platensis is highly sought out not only due to its nutritional value, but also due to its antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiviral activities (Chen, et al., 2015; Falaise et al., 2016). This cyanobacterium has also been applied in cosmetics, (Spolaore 2006), and studied as an environmental bioremediation agent (Markou, et al., 2015, Çelekli et al., 2016). Finally, Arthrospira sp. has been suggested as a valuable feed supplement or as a substitute for conventional animal feed sources due to its nutritional qualities (Falaise et al., 2016). However, microalgae production industries still face a few challenges. Due to the highly phenotypic plasticity of this microalgae, its growth rates, biomass production and the fact that chemical compounds produced are strongly dependent on several factors, namely the location of the production systems, microalgae strains, cultivation methods, and culture conditions (Falaise et al., 2016). High costs associated with microalgae production only adds up to these challenges, as nowadays this industry still cannot be competitive enough to stand against other industries. Therefore, work must be done to improve sustainability, by producing efficiently and profitable high-quality biomass quality and, consequently, the sought-out high-value compounds. The current study offers an approach to promote production efficiency, by comparing growth rates and protein content of A. platensis supplemented with different nutrient commercial media. The Zarrouk medium (1966), an expensive nutrient formula commonly used at a laboratory scale, was used as a control. The growth rates of A. platensis cultivated in an indoor and outdoor setting were also compared to evaluate the potential of Peniche (Portugal) climate for the growth of this microalgae. The microalgae A. platensis SAG 85.79 obtained from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen - Culture Collection of Algae was used for all assays. Batch culture systems were kept in the laboratory at 22ºC, with a photoperiod of 12:12 L:D provided by white cool light bulbs (5000 lux), and constant aeration filtered by 0,2 µm filters (Sartorius Stedim Biotech GmbH, Goettingen, Germany). Controls were kept in 500 mL flasks with Zarrouk medium, at pH>10 (de Morais, et al., 2015). During the first assay, triplicates of 500mL of four commercial fertilizers were tested: Complesal (AGLUKON, Dusseldorf, Germany), Compo (Compo, Barcelona, Spain), FloraNova (General Hydroponics, Santa Rosa, USA) e Nutrafin (Rolf C. Hagen, Montreal, Canada). pH was kept at pH>10 by adding calcium bicarbonate to each culture. The assay lasted for 10 days. For the second assay, Zarrouk growth medium was used, and the same indoor laboratory conditions were kept. Scale up was performed using 20L inoculum microalgae solution up to 75L culture grown in polyethylene plastic bags for 32 days; this was a fed-bath system, kept at 28º±2ºC, with Zarrouk + A5 being supplied every three days. In both assays, a sample of the culture was collected, filtered every two/three days to measure dry weight and growth rates according to Vonshak (1997). A. platensis was harvested by filtration, using filter screens of 30-50 microns’ mesh. Results showed that the best growth medium was Zarrouk with a growth rate of 0,168 ± 0,066 g.day-1, closely followed by FloraNova with 0,132 ± 0,402 g.day-1. A. platensis grown with Nutrafin showed a weaker growth rate (0,079 ± 0,282 g.day-1) whereas the Complesal and Nutrafin cultures died before the 10th day. Thus, commercial formula FloraNova proved to be a suitable substitute to traditional growth medium, showing very interesting cell concentrations and growth rates (Carvalho et al., 2006; Delrue et al. 2017). Therefore, we performed another batch run for 12 days with FloraNova decreasing and increasing the percentage of nutritive solution by 30%. The differences weren’t statistically significant: Biomass production and growth rates were similar to those found in the previous test, respectively: 0,149 ± 0,058 g.day-1 (FloraNova - 30%), 0,144 ± 0,031 g. day-1 (FloraNova), and 0,150 ± 0,053 g. day-1 (FloraNova + 30%), with biomass reaching concentrations higher than 2g/L, thus proving that lower nutrients’ supply can be provided without decreasing productivity. Yet, exact FloraNova medium concentration remains to be assessed. Regarding the indoor/outdoor assay, after 32 days the fed-batch culture reached a concentration of 1.20 g.L-1 and 2,02 g.L-1 (growth rates 0,0178 and 0,0491 g.L-1day-1), respectively, which undoubtedly demonstrates that the combination of temperature, natural sunlight and Peniche climatic patterns are an asset to be valued and considered in the future to produce microalgae in an outdoor industrial setting.

Acknowledgements

This study had the support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013 granted to MARE.

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Keywords: Microalgae aquaculture, Batch culture, growth rates, light intensity, commercial nutrient media.

Conference: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Aquaculture

Citation: Carneiro J, Gomes S, Freitas M, Afonso CN and Mouga TM (2019). Growth of Arthrospira platensis under laboratory and outdoor conditions: assessment of the effects of light and different nutrient media. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00115

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Received: 02 May 2018; Published Online: 07 Jan 2019.

* Correspondence: Prof. Teresa M Mouga, Escola Superior de Turismo e Tecnologia do Mar, Politécnico de Leiria, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Peniche, 2520-641, Portugal, mougat@ipleiria.pt