Browsing by Author "Asmare, Elsabeth"

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    Evaluation of the Potential of Shala Hot Spring Water for the Biomass Production of Arthrospira Fusiformis (Voronikhin) Komewk & J.W.G. Lund
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-06) Asmare, Elsabeth; Kifile, Demeke(PhD)
    Arthrospira is a super food, which has attracted the attention of many governmental and non-governmental organizations as a means of combating malnutrition. However, the cost of production especially the media cost has become prohibitive to efforts being made in this direction. The high media cost has necessitated the search for ways of reducing it. In this study the potential of hot spring water-based media for the production of Arthrospira biomass was evaluated by using media supplemented with 0% (SSM), 25% (SM25), 50% (SM50), 75 % (SM75) and 100 % (SM) standard Arthrospira medium. The specific growth rate (μ, day−1), biomass (B, as Chl-a and dry weight) of Arthrospira in relation to some chemical parameters of the culture media were evaluated. μ and B values comparable to those in SM were achieved using SM25%, while increase in the level of supplementation to 50% supported higher B. pH of culture media had significant (P<0.01) effect on the growth of Arthrospira. Unlike pH, salinity didn’t have significant effect on the growth of Arthrospira (P>0.05) despite its significant variations (P<0.05) among the culture media. PO4-P and NO3-N did not significantly (P>0.05) vary among media except SSM, which was relatively nutrient-deplete. The addition of the standard medium is therefore, necessary to add bicarbonate–carbonates and nutrients and maintain optimal pH level, to promote biomass production of Arthrospira over longer period of cultivation. The present results show that use of Lake Shala hot spring water-based media can reduce the media cost by 50-75%. Further study on outdoor cultures using this hot spring water with optimized growth condition is recommended. Key words: Arthrospira, Lake Shala-hot spring, media cost, biomass production, Chemical factors