Culture of Spirogyra africana from farm ponds for long-term experiments and stock maintenance

Abstract

Spirogyra africana (Fritsch) Czurda is a ubiquitous filamentous green alga that grows naturally in Andalusian farm ponds. Research on this macroalga has reported several biotechnological applications, emphasizing its value for biofuel production. However, culture media for growth of this species have not yet been tested for long-term experiments and stock maintenance. Here we test the three most common culture media cited in the literature for Spirogyra growth, i.e. HSCHU#10, sD11 and pond water, in a 10-week laboratory experiment. We compared growth rates, percentages of live filaments and number of rhizoids per filament of S. africana cultured in each medium. The effect of filament sterilization to obtain monoalgal cultures, i.e. chlorination, was also tested on its growth. After 10 weeks, S. africana grew in HSCHU#10, whilst FPW and sD11 showed poorer results. Filament chlorination prior to inoculation showed a positive effect on growth, especially several weeks after algal inoculation. Rhizoid genesis seemed to be dependent on additional external factors, but responded to chlorination positively. We recommend the use of HSCHU#10 and the surface decontamination of filamentous algae with chlorine for Spirogyra cultures, especially for long-term experiments and stock maintenance.

Keywords

• Ponds
• culture media
• algae
• Chlorophyceae
• seaweed culture
• growth rate
• chlorination