The Growth of Spirulina platensis in Different Culture Systems Under Greenhouse Condition

We aimed in this experiment to compare the growth characteristics of Spirulina, which was cultivated in different culture vessels under greenhouse condition. Three types of culture vessels, i.e. transparent jars, polyethylene bags and raceway ponds, were used in the experiment. The jar cultures supported higher cell densities due to their higher culture temperature compared to the others. The dry weight amount in jar cultures was 0.99 g L at the end of the experiment, while it was 0.5 g L in the others. Specific growth rates were found to be 0.32, 0.21 and 0.20 day-1 in the jar, bag and pond cultures, respectively. The protein levels measured at the end of the experiment were 33.4, 54.5 and 58.3% for the jar, bag and pond cultures, respectively. The reason for the much lower protein amount in jar cultures was interpreted as the depletion of the nitrogen in the culture medium as a result of faster growth and the prolonged steady state. We concluded that the use of small volume cultures would increase the temperature faster, which is the main factor hindering growth especially in the winter period. Moreover, the use of short light-path lengths in addition to the smaller volumes in the cultures would support a higher productivity.