Technological stress and the quality of spirulina biomass

Abstract

Taking into account that one of the requirements for technologies of cyanobacterial biomass production is to ensure the high quality of the final product, the purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of thermal, salt, illumination and chemical stresses on biomass quality of cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis CNMN-CB-11 (spirulina). Stress conditions were created by deviating from the optimal ones (temperature 30±1 oC, рН 8-10 and continuous illumination 37-55 μM photons/m2·s) or by adding xenobiotics. Evaluated quantitative parameters were: biomass quantity, content of proteins, phycobiliproteins, carbohydrates, β-carotene and chlorophyll a, lipids and malondialdehyde (MDA), antioxidant enzymes activity (SOD, CAT, POD).