Establishment of the cultivation system for the alga Haematococcus pluvialis

Haematococcus pluvialis je enocelična mikroskopsko majhna alga, ki v neugodnih okoljskih pogojih akumulira karotenoidni sekundarni metabolit visoke vrednosti, ksantofil astaksantin. Namen magistrske naloge je bil vzpostaviti bioreaktorski sistem za gojenje algne biomase in pridobivanje astaksantina v kulturi alge Haematococcus pluvialis. Glavni cilj raziskave je bil vpeljati učinkovit biotehnološki način proizvodnje alge in v nadaljevanju primerjati rastne parametre petih različnih sevov, pridobljenih iz CCALA (Culture collection of Autotrophic Organisms, http://ccala.butbn.cas.cz/en). Bioreaktor smo uspešno sestavili. Najvišji prirastek sta izkazala seva S3 (1429 mg/L) in S4 (1462 mg/L), najnižji pa seva S1 (1313 mg/L) in S2 (1233 mg/L). Razlike v prirastku suhe mase so bile statistično značilne. Zaradi kontaminacije gojišča smo sev S5 izključili iz raziskave. Razlike v deležu astaksantina glede na suho maso alg posameznih sevov statistično niso bile značilne, pa vendar je sev S4 zaradi višjega prirastka suhe mase proizvedel najvišjo koncentracijo astaksantina (41 mg/L). Kot najustreznejši sev smo za nadaljnje raziskave in komercialno uporabo določili sev S4.Haematococcus pluvialis is unicellular microalga, that under unfavourable environmental condition accumulates carotenoids secondary metabolite of the high value, xanthophyll astaxanthin. The main goal was to establish the system for the production of algae and astaxanthin in the culture of alga Haematococcus pluvialis. The main objective was to design and establish the cultivation system for microalgae and furthermore compare some growth parameters of different strains. We screened biomass and astaxanthin production of different microalgal strains, obtained from CCALA (Culture collection of Autotrophic Organisms, http://ccala.butbn.cas.cz/en). The bioreactor was successfully constructed. The highest yield was given by strain S3 (1429 mg/L) and S4 (1462 mg/L), while the lowest yield was given by strain S1 (1313 mg/L) and S2 (1233 mg/L). The differences in the dry mass yield were statistically significant. Due to contamination of the medium, the strain S5 was excluded from the study. The differences in the proportion of astaxanthin relative to the highest dry mass of individual strains were statistically not significant, however, the strain S4 had the highest concentration of astaxanthin (41 mg/L) due to higher dry mass yield. The strain S4 was determined as the most appropriate strain for further research and commercial use