Effect of Incubation Temperature, Light Intensity and Salinity on Growth, Lipid Content and Composition of Two Egyptian Race a of Botryococcus Braunii

Abstract

Effects of the incubation temperature, light intensity and NaCl salinity on growth in addition to lipid content and composition of two isolates of Botryococcus braunii, (JN580448.1 and JN580451.1) were investigated. The light to dark period was 16h: 8h. Cultures were incubated for 7 weeks and harvested with GF/C filters for dry weight determination. Lipids were extracted by n-hexane and analyzed by GC/MS. Compared to control cultures, the temperature of 30oC induced significant (P ≤ 0.05) increase in biomass by 14.89% and 29.89% and lipids by 16.15% and 20.29% for isolates EG-Bb01 and EG-Bb04, respectively. The light intensity 48.6 μ mol photons m-2s-1 induced very high significant (P ≤ 0.001) increase in biomass (88.71% and 100.7%) and lipids (118.63% and 94.61%) of EG-Bb01 and EGBb04, respectively. Similarly, 17 mM NaCl salinity induced high significant (P ≤ 0.01) increase in biomass (23.82% and 17.71%) and lipids (32.92% and 24.51%) of EG-Bb01 and EG-Bb04, respectively. Considerable numbers of short C6-C15 chain compounds were detected in biomass of cultures grown under light intensity of 48.6 μ mol photons m-2s-1 and in cultures supplemented with 17mM NaCl. These results may indicate that the Egyptian isolates of Botryococcus are potential source of hydrocarbon biofuel.