Abstract

OTEROPATERNINA, ANGÉLICA; CRUZCASALLAS, PABLO E.  and  VELASCOSANTAMARIA, YOHANA M.. Effect of the Hydrocarbon Phenanthrene on Chlorella vulgaris (Chlorellaceae) Growth. Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2013, vol.18, n.1, pp.87-98. ISSN 0120-548X.

The effects of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon phenanthrene on the growth of Chlorella vulgaris alga were evaluated under laboratory conditions. The algae were exposed during 72 h to different concentrations of phenanthrene (0, 1, 10, 100, 1000 and 10000 µg/l). The alga density was daily determined by a Neubauer chamber. The average growth average, total biomass and inhibition percentage of the biomass were also determined. In addition, the content of chlorophyll a was determined at the beginning and the end of the experiment. The assays were carried out in glass bottles of 0,4 l using the complex NPK (REMITAL® m - 17-6-18) at 1 g/l as an organic fertilizing. The results showed that phenanthrene inhibited progressively the alga growth being the lowest cellular growth observed in the medium with the highest phenanthrene concentration, reaching an inhibition percentage of 59 %. In the other treatments, the daily growth rate was relatively constant. The chlorophyll a concentration evaluated by spectrophotometry was not affected by the phenanthrene concentration. In conclusion, the growth of the alga C. vulgaris was affected negatively by the exposure to nominal concentrations of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon phenanthrene higher than 1 µg/l.

Keywords : biomass; chlorophyll; hydrocarbon; microalgae; toxicity.

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