EFFECT OF DIFFERENT MEDIA COMPOSITION ON GROWTH, BIOMASS AND PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENT OF AMPHORA SP. (BACILLARIOPHYCEAE) – A MICROCOSM APPROACH

Abstract

Microalgae have enormous potential because of their rapid growth and tolerance to varied environmental conditions. Amphora sp., an epipelic benthic pennate diatom, holds promise as a nutraceutical source and may be useful for aquaculture. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the use of different technical culture medium (F/2, F/2+Nualgi, TMRL, TMRL+Nualgi) on the growth rate, biomass and pigment concentration of diatom culture Amphora sp. Nualgi, a commercially available micronutrient ready-mix with eight elements adsorbed as nanoparticles on a modified silica sol, was found to drastically boost growth in Amphora sp. Amphora sp. was isolated from seawater through the dilution technique. The strain was inoculated into seawater enriched with different media under 16:8 light/dark photoperiod with 50μmolm-2sec-1. Optical density was recorded by using UV-Visible spectrophotometer at 680 nm. Besides, dry weight and chlorophyll-‘a’ and ‘b’ concentration of strain were determined. The highest growth rate (OD) (2.16±0.11), dry weight (0.91±0.07gL-1), chlorophyll-‘a’ (27.59±0.4 μgL-1) and chlorophyll-‘b’ (16.32±0.4μgL-1) production were observed in the TMRL+Nualgi medium followed by F/2 + Nualgi than the other media. Supplementation of the nutrient medium with Nualgi, a commercial formulation of micronutrients on a silica base was found to promote growth of Amphora sp.