TY  - EJOU
AU  - JA, López-Elías  
AU  - Fimbres-Olivarría, D 
AU  - Medina-Juárez, LA  
AU  - Miranda-Baeza, A  
AU  - Martínez-Córdova, LR 
AU  - Molina-Quijada, DMA 

TI  - Production of biomass and carotenoids of <i>Dunaliella tertiolecta</i> in nitrogen-limited cultures
T2  - Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany

PY  - 2013
VL  - 82
IS  - all
SN  - 1851-5657

AB  - Microalgae have a high content of antioxidant compounds (carotenoids, phycobilins and fatty acids) used in biotechnology industry. Under stress conditions <i>Dunaliella</i> cells produce more carotenoids. Because of this, we evaluated growth, biomass and carotenoid production under control (indoor) and outdoor conditions using mass cultures of <i>Dunaliella tertiolecta</i> Butcher, under nitrogenlimited media. Control medium was f/2 (nitrates: 18.75 g/L), and limited media were f/4 (nitrates: 37.5 g/L), f/6 (nitrates: 25 g/L) and f/8 (nitrates: 18.75 g/L). The highest cell concentrations were found in cultures using medium f/2 maintained indoor (1.28 x 10<sup>6</sup> cells/mL) and outdoor (0.76 x 10<sup>6</sup> cell/mL). Dry biomass increased in both culture conditions when nitrogen decreased in the medium (Indoor: 100 to 217 pg/cell, and Outdoor: 230 to 355 pg/cell). The highest concentration of total carotenoids was found using medium f/8 whereas the highest productivity was obtained using medium f/2 achieving yields of 0.03 mg/L of zeaxanthin, 9.19 mg/L lutein, 19.56 mg/L chlorophyll <i>b</i>, 1.62 mg/L chlorophyll <i>a</i> and 5.40 mg/L β-carotenoids. In conclusion, carotenoid concentration increased in nitrogen-limited cultures, but cell density decreased under such conditions.
KW  - <i>Dunaliella</i>
KW  -  Carotenoids
KW  -  Culture media
KW  -  Nitrogen limitation

DO  - 10.32604/phyton.2013.82.023