Media Optimization for the Enhanced Growth and Yield of Spirulina platensis Biomass and Determination of Generation Time

The cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis, a photoautotroph, is a good food supplement because of its high protein content. It is also an excellent source of pigments like phycocyanin, vitamins and lipids. The present study was carried out to obtain enhanced yield of Spirulina biomass and the pigment C-phycocyanin. Modified Zarrouk's medium was used as the basal medium (it also served as control), in which four different supplements(Multivitamin tablets, Tender coconut water, Cow dung extract and Cow urine) at 4 different concentration i.e., 250mg, 500mg, 750mg and 1000mg/l for multivitamin tablets and 1ml, 10ml, 50ml and 100ml for tender coconut water, cow dung extract and cow urine were added. The cultivation was carried out in a 1000ml Erlenmeyer flask's for a period of 20 days at room temperature with artificial aeration and lighting. The growth was monitored by direct microscopic count (DMC), optical density (OD) and dry biomass on daily basis till 20^th day. It was observed that, the first two concentrations of all the four media promoted the growth whereas the last two did not favour the growth. Multivitamin at 250mg/l was found to be very good enhancer for biomass (2.84g/l) whereas, the cow urine at the concentration 10ml/l was the least enhancer (1.40g/l) when compared to control (2.46g/l). In terms of C-phycocyanin yield, the multivitamin at the concentration of 500mg/l showed the highest concentration (0.524mg/g (5.24%) of biomass mass).