Photoautotrophic cultivation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in open ponds of greenhouse

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is one of the most characterized green algae. The open-pond cultivation can be challenging due to sensitivity of strain to fluctuating environmental conditions and unavailability of low-cost photoautotrophic media. In this study, the photoautotrophic growth of C. reinhardtii was evaluated in 1-m(2) open ponds placed in greenhouse. Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) was evaluated as an alternative buffering agent to tris. The effect of buffer and pH was tested. The growth was studied in the presence of various nitrogen [urea and ammonium bicarbonate (NH4HCO3)] sources. In the study, it was found that 125-ppm NaHCO3 as an optimum concentration. The buffering agent in the media was found to have major impact on growth. Without buffering agent, culture did not grow, and pH drop was observed. The sodium bicarbonate-buffered media reported to have the lowest bacterial contamination (18.3%), highest AFDW per OD (0.39 +/- 0.027 g/L) and higher Fv/Fm (0.714 +/- 0.016), whereas these values were found to be 62%, 0.19 +/- 0.02 g/L and 0.537 +/- 0.053 for tris-grown culture, respectively. The pH 7.0-7.5 was determined as an optimum, whereas pH 6.5-7.0 and 8.0-8.5 were found to affect the growth and induce palmelloidy. The OD and AFDW of culture grown in NH4HCO3 were found equivalent to a standard nitrogen source (NH4Cl), whereas culture shown poor growth in urea. Based on these data, NH4HCO3 media recipe and the optimized cultivation parameters were selected for photoautotrophic cultivation of Chlamydomonas in greenhouse open ponds.