Effects of different culture media on the growth and proximate composition of Dunaliella sp. at different growth phase

Nutrient content in different culture media significantly influence the growth and proximate content of microalgae. Therefore, in the present study Dunaliella sp. has been selected to determine its growth and proximate composition in different growth phase in Conway and F2 media. For growth determination, data were collected in terms of cell density and optical density and harvested in every growth phases to determine its proximate composition. Results concluded that, Dunaliella sp. showed higher cell density and earlier stationary phase in F2 medium with 7.8 x 106 cells mL-1 compared to the Conway media with 4.1 x 106 cells mL-1 . Significantly higher (p>0.05) amount of protein content was recorded from Conway media in log phase with 67.58 % dry weight followed by lag and stationary phase with 57.53 % and 51.1 % dry weight. On the other hand, Dunaliella sp. showed no significant different (p>0.05) in carbohydrate content at different growth phase but followed an increasing pattern with the growth of microalgae. Stationary phase showed the highest amount of carbohydrate compared with other phases with 19.78 % in Conway media and 23.93 % in F2 medium. Conway media resulted significantly higher (p>0.05) lipid content compared to F2 medium. In lag, log and stationary phase 12.90 %, 9.80 % and 9.05 % of lipid were found in Conway media. This information might contribute to boost up the microalgal production by using the suitable culture media and can harvest the microalgae at different growth phases at their highest specific nutrient.