Different Values of Fertilizer, Salt and NaNO3 on Spirulina biomass and pigments production

Cyanobacteria Spirulina which are widely commercialized as nutritional supplements for humans and as animal feed additives. Spirulina is free-floating filamentous microalgae growing in alkaline water bodies. This algae is easy to culture and harvest in large-scale. The price of Spirulina is still unaffordable for most people. In order to reduce the current market price of Spirulina, alternative nutrient sources were studied to replace expensive chemical compositions that have been used often in laboratory scale. Efforts to reduce cultivation cost using cheap fertilizer composition resulted better growth of Spirulina. Therefore, in the present project, Different concentrations of fertilizer (NPK) (0.f 1-2mg/l) in composition with saltlick (% 1 and 2.5) and 0.1 and 0.5 mg/l NaNO3 were studied for 14 days to improve the biomass production and reduce the costs. Result showed NPK in 1.5 and 2 mg/l has essential role in Spirulina was obtained in 1.5 mg/l NPK in combination with %2.5 saltlick and 0.5 mg/l NaNO3. Treatments containing high levels of NPK were caused Spirulina growth was increased up to 2 weeks. But, high value of pigments (Phycocyanin, Allophycocyanin, Phycoerythrin and Phycobiliproteins) were observed in low concentration of NPK (0.5 mg/l) with high level of saltlick (%2.5). Results of this experiment showed combination of saltlick and NPK could be increased production of Spirulina and Phycocyanin simultaneously. The usage of commercially available fertilizer and chemicals in the market for inorganic nutrition of plants is also economical for large-scale production of algae and could be considered as an appropriate alternative for algal composition media in lab.

Cyanobacteria Spirulina which are widely commercialized as nutritional supplements for humans and as animal feed additives. Spirulina is free-floating filamentous microalgae growing in alkaline water bodies. This algae is easy to culture and harvest in large-scale. The price of Spirulina is still unaffordable for most people. In order to reduce the current market price of Spirulina, alternative nutrient sources were studied to replace expensive chemical compositions that have been used often in laboratory scale. Efforts to reduce cultivation cost using cheap fertilizer composition resulted better growth of Spirulina. Therefore, in the present project, Different concentrations of fertilizer (NPK) (0.f 1-2mg/l) in composition with saltlick (% 1 and 2.5) and 0.1 and 0.5 mg/l NaNO3 were studied for 14 days to improve the biomass production and reduce the costs. Result showed NPK in 1.5 and 2 mg/l has essential role in Spirulina was obtained in 1.5 mg/l NPK in combination with %2.5 saltlick and 0.5 mg/l NaNO3. Treatments containing high levels of NPK were caused Spirulina growth was increased up to 2 weeks. But, high value of pigments (Phycocyanin, Allophycocyanin, Phycoerythrin and Phycobiliproteins) were observed in low concentration of NPK (0.5 mg/l) with high level of saltlick (%2.5). Results of this experiment showed combination of saltlick and NPK could be increased production of Spirulina and Phycocyanin simultaneously. The usage of commercially available fertilizer and chemicals in the market for inorganic nutrition of plants is also economical for large-scale production of algae and could be considered as an appropriate alternative for algal composition media in lab.