Two Important Techniques for Isolation of Microalgae

Abstract

Microalgae (phytoplankton) plays a very important role as live food for aquatic organisms. However, out of the 80,000 species of microalgae, only 50-60 species are commercially important as live food and for other nutritional purposes. Moreover, these microalgae are available in freshwater as well as marine water which should be isolated first and then used for monoculture or production for use as live food or for other commercial purposes. There are two important cosmopolitan methods worldwide for the isolation of microalgae and then pure culture. These two methods are: Micropipette Washing Technique and Centrifuge Washing and Streak Plating Technique which are described in detail for the isolation of microalgae in the Materials and Methods section, to make these methods available to researchers. So far, there is no available published literature about a reliable, easily understandable technique for the isolation of phytoplankton and or microalgae in our library nor in our country. Researchers as well as students are having a hard time obtaining the same from their localities. Therefore, with the aim in view of producing a manual discussing these two important techniques to isolate microalgae using clear and simple language and easily available, this paper is prepared.