Mohammad Gorgij Jaski
Bandar Abbass Azad University, Iran
Title: Culture of Spirulina platensis in different source of nitrogen for optimizing of protein content
Biography
Biography: Mohammad Gorgij Jaski
Abstract
The major nutritional interest in Spirulina is due to its high protein content, ease of digestion and a significant content of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and pigments. Nitrogen is known to have a strong influence on the metabolism of lipids and protein in various microalgae. In the present study, the production of S. platensis was optimized in terms of biomass and metabolites by using different nitrogen regimes. S. platensis was grown in Zarrouk’s medium in a 3000ml Erlenmeyer flask, in which the NaNO3 was replaced by NH4Cl, NH4NO3 and KNO3 with concentrations of 0.010, 0.025 and 0.050 M. Cultures were incubated at temperature of 30oC and initial pH of 9.5 under 12/12 hour light-dark photo period with normal white light. The results clearly showed that S. platensis successfully cultivated by using different nitrogen regimes and maximum biomass was produced in medium containing NH4NO3. The maximum protein content was obtained in culture containing NH4NO3 followed by NH4Cl and KNO3. Moreover, in all S. platensis cultures, increasing in nitrogen concentrations, led to an increase in maximum biomass and minimum protein content; whereas with increasing nitrogen concentrations, chlorophyll-a content increased more slowly and reached relatively high values only at very high nitrogen levels. However, chlorophyll-a content did not show any significant, when the nitrogen were varied in term of regimes and levels. Overall, the results of present study clearly showed that using NH4NO3 can be considered as a promising nitrogen source for S. platensis cultivation for achieving optimal biomass and protein production