Growth Performance of Marine Microalgae Chaetoceros gracilis in Different Media for Indoor Culture System

Abstract

The growth performance of algae, Chaetoceros gracilis, was studied using three nutrient media viz. (i) Walne's or Conway, (ii) Miquel's and (iii) TMRL, designated as Treatment-1 – 3 (T-1 -3) respectively, at laboratory condition for 27 days at 1600-2000 Lux light intensity. The culture was conducted in 1L. transparent plastic bottle with an initial cell density of 2×10² cells /ml. with three replicates of each treatment maintaining constant temperature of 25°C and 30 ppt salinity with continuous aeration and illumination. C. gracilis cultured in T-1 showed significantly (P< 0.05) higher growth with a mean peak density (195± 0.288×10² cells/ ml) than T-2 (137 ± 0.376×10² cells/ml) and T-3 (117± 0.527×10² cells/ml) on the 11th day of culture. Stationary growth phase among the Treatments varied from 11 to 16 days (T-1: 11-15days; T-2: 12-15 days and T-3: 12-16 days) after which declining phase started and no individual found alive at 27th day of culture. It resembles that Walne's or Conway media is suitable for the culture of C. gracilis.