CULTURE CONDITIONS OF SPIRULINA IN FRESHWATER MEDIUM AND ITS EFFECT ON CELL GROWTH
Spirulina is a multicellular and filamentous microalgae that is considered a promising protein source alternative and absolute food and feed supplement for growth and nutrition. Optimizing the culture conditions of Spirulina is detrimental to maximizing biomass yield and minimizing cost by modifying the commercial culture media. This study was conducted to determine the chemical culture conditions of Spirulina platensis concerning biomass yield. Chemical conditions of the liquid culture such as the pH level and salt concentration of the cultivated Spirulina were determined. Moreover, the cell length (µm) of Spirulina as affected by pH and salt concentration was measured using Image J. The optimum quality and quantity of DNA as affected by preparation was determined. Results revealed that Spirulina thrived in alkaline conditions and significantly yielded a biomass of 75.43g and 67.47g at pH 8 and 9, respectively. The fresh weight harvest yield was significantly best observed at 1% salt concentration (w/v). In preparing and extracting the DNA of Spirulina using the modified CTAB DNA Extraction protocol, the Non-grinded sample of the DNA yielded the highest nucleic acid concentration of 437.8 ng/µl and had rendered pure DNA quality with an A260/280 ratio of 1.95 nm absorbance as compared with the ground samples. The size in length (µm) of the rod-shaped Spirulina cells cultivated in freshwater media was significantly long (626.75 µg and 494.64 µg) when cultivated at pH 8 and 9, respectively. Similarly, the spiral-shaped Spirulina cells were significantly long at pH 8 (356.67 µm) and pH 9 (348.53 µm). Moreover, the size length of the rod-shaped Spirulina cells is longer when cultivated at 1% (w/v) salt concentration with a length of 568.75 µm while the spiral-shaped cells were significantly long at 5% with a length of 193.68 µm.
Spirulina, Culture Media, Production, Microalgae