Abstract

BERMUDEZ¹, José Luis; LODEIROS², César  and  MORALES¹, Ever. BIOMASS PRODUCTION OF THE MARINE MICROALGA CHROOMONAS SP., AS A FUNCTION OF PH, LUMINIC INTENSITY, AND SALINITY. Bol. Invest. Mar. Cost. [online]. 2002, vol.31, n.1, pp.167-185. ISSN 0122-9761.

We report the characterization of a marine microalga of the genus Chroomonas, isolated from a salt lagoon located to the North of Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela. We evaluated the growth and the pigment production in discontinuous culture at different salinites (5, 10, 35, 50, 70 y 100 ppm), light intensites (39, 78, 117 and 156 µmol quanta.m^-2.s^-1) and pH (5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0). The highest cellular density, 117.99±2.62x106 cel.ml^-1, was reached at 35ppm, 156 µmol quanta.m^-2.s^-1 of light intensity and a pH between 6.0 and 8.0. The cellular content of total chlorophyll and carotenoids increased with the salinity up to 100 ppm, with amounts of 246.55±61.8 y 69.79±18.19 fg.cel^-1, respectively. The cellular productivity 4.31x109 cel.l^-1d^-1 was obtained when the microalga, was grown in semi-continuous culture, at a 2.0 l volume and at a daily renewal rate of 30% (v/v). The total amount of chlorophyll and carotenoids was 1.4 and 0.48 mg.l^-1.d^-1, respectively. This results indicate that this planktonic microalga could be used as daily live food for larvae in aquaculture and for the production of  microalgal biomass and/or pigments.

Keywords : microalga; culture; Chroomonas; pH; salinity; biomass.

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