Culture of microalgae using interstitial
water extracted from shrimp pond bottom sediments
F.M. Yusoff, H.B. Matias, Z.A. Khalid, S.-M.
Phang-2001
Aquaculture, 201(3-4): 263-270
Abstract:
Interstitial water, extracted from the bottom
sediment of a shrimp culture pond, was rich in nutrients containing total
phosphorus with concentration of 25.98 mg/l and total nitrogen of 65.45
mg/l. A diatom, Chaetoceros calcitrans, a green alga, Nannochloropsis
oculata, and a cyanobacterium, Oscillatoria sp., were cultured in
pure interstitial water (PIW), diluted interstitial water (DIW) and in
Conway medium (CM). C. calcitrans showed a significantly higher (P<0.05)
growth rate in DIW compared to CM and PIW. Alternatively, Oscillatoria
sp. had a significantly lower (P<0.05) growth rate when grown in
DIW compared to CM. Similar to the other algae, Oscillatoria sp.
showed the lowest growth rate in PIW. C. calcitrans and Oscillatoria
sp. were also grown in DIW with the addition of nitrogen, phosphorus, silica
and the combination of the three nutrients. The addition of nitrogen and
silica to the diluted interstitial water significantly improved (P<0.05)
the growth rate of C. calcitrans, but the addition of phosphorus
significantly decreased (P<0.05) its growth. On the other hand,
the growth rate of Oscillatoria sp. significantly decreased (P<0.05)
with the addition of nitrogen, but increased (P<0.05) with the
addition of phosphorus. There was no significant difference (P>0.05)
in the growth rate of Oscillatoria sp. cultured in interstitial water
and that with added silica or a combination of nitrogen, phosphorus and
silica. This study indicates that interstitial water extracted from
aquaculture ponds, in sterilized diluted form, has the potential to be used
as an effective medium for the culture of microalgae.