Micro-algae research for the New Zealand Aquaculture Industry
Developing a dependable culture system is essential to ensure consistent seawater, nutrients and other essential minerals are available for micro-algae to grow in continuous culture.
The hanging bag method or continuous culture (left) of micro-algae depends on a highly regulated delivery of medium to ensure continuous and consistent growth of algae is available to the organism and industry relying on it for their first stage of shellfish culture, in a lab, prior to being introduced into the marine environment for on-growing.
Micro-algae production for industry and research
Parent cultures of micro algae are maintained free of bacterial contamination. These strains are utilised to maintain a regular supply of starter culture for the production of various micro algae species used as a primary food source and / or settlement cue for microscopic marine plankton. it is the lipids or fatty acids in these cells that provide a rich source of food for invertebrate and vertebrate marine animals.
The flasks (upper left) and carboys (lower left) are examples of "batch culture" whereby a small amount of starter culture is introduced into a larger vessel, which contains sterile sea water and fertilisers specific to the successful culture of the desired algae. Over a 4-6 day period, exponential growth of the starter culture occurs, and can be observed by the changing colour within the flask. Algal cell growth is monitored by daily cell counts to determine when the vessels contain the optimum number of cells available for consumption.