Ideal culture method and application for microalga, Haematococcus sp.

Abstract

Haematococcus sp. are commercial photosynthetic green microalga, and accumulates high amounts of high value-added secondary metabolites such as carotenoids and astaxanthin when cell color is converted to red cyst cells. Generally, genus Haematococcus have reporting a low growth rate and low final cell density when the cells are cultured with general broth media. In this reason, the culture cost (nutrients, water, land and system etc.) are considerably high despite the secondary metabolites are important for human health. Therefore, development of affordable culture condition is an important role for mass production and sustainability of the strain. The aim of this study was to design and apply the culture method to decrease a culture cost and to investigate an optimal condition for biomass production of Haematococcus sp. KORDI03 (KCTC 12348BP) under waterless different culture condition. Culture condition of the strain was BBM-based waterless agar plate with the conditions of room temperature (28±0.5°C) and fluorescence light (12L:12D cycle) for a month. The results showed that dry biomass of the red cyst cells ranged from 1.63 g/m2 to 21.12 g/m2. The maximum productivity is suggested that ideal culture method is affordable for Haematococcus sp. production and is to be make a convenient process for astaxanthin production from the strain cells.