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Biomass, Lipid and Fatty Acid Production in Large-Scale Cultures of the Marine Macroalga Derbesia tenuissima (Chlorophyta)

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Abstract

Biomass productivity was quantified for the marine macroalga Derbesia tenuissima cultivated outdoors at seven stocking densities from 0.25 to 8 g L−1 for 5 weeks. Total lipids and fatty acid quantity and quality was measured from samples that were freeze-dried, dried by oven (75 °C), food dehydrator (60 °C), or outdoor in the sun (40 °C) or shade (38 °C). Stocking densities of 0.25 to 2 g L−1 yielded the highest biomass productivities (>20 g dry weight m−2 day−1) with no effect on total lipid quantity (11 %), or fatty acid quantity (5.3 %) or quality at any density tested. However, there was an interactive effect of stocking density and drying technique, with a decrease of up to 40 % in polyunsaturated fatty acids in sun-dried compared to freeze-dried biomass. Notably, while fatty acid and biomass productivity may be inseparable in macroalgae, cultivation conditions have a significant carryover effect in the post-harvest delivery of high-quality bio-oils.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the MBD Energy Research and Development program for Biological Carbon Capture and Storage. The project is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, and the Advanced Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (AM-CRC), funded through the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Scheme. We thank Veronique Mocellin and Kerri-Lee Dyer for post-harvest processing and biochemical analyses and Sophie Raillard, Elien Boogaerts, and Ana Wegner for culture production.

Role of the Funding Bodies

The funding bodies had no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MACRO - the Centre for Macroalgal Resources and Biotechnology, and School of Marine & Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia

    Marie Magnusson, Leonardo Mata, Rocky de Nys & Nicholas A. Paul

Authors
  1. Marie Magnusson
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  2. Leonardo Mata
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  3. Rocky de Nys
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  4. Nicholas A. Paul
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Correspondence to Marie Magnusson.

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ESM 1

Specimen photos of Derbesia tenuissima showing a) filamentous growth habit (Nikon D7000), b) siphonous filaments at 100 times magnification (Olympus DP73 camera connected to Olympus BX53 microscope) (12 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 4931 kb)

ESM 2

Results of two-factor mixed model permutational analyses of variance (PERMANOVAs) testing the effects of week (random factor) and stocking density (fixed) on biomass, lipid, total fatty acid and PUFA productivities. Analyses were conducted in Primer v6 (Primer-E Ltd, UK) using Bray-Curtis dissimilarities on fourth root transformed data and 999 unrestricted permutations of raw data. Pseudo F (F) and P values are presented. Significant P values are shown in bold (DOCX 14 kb)

ESM 3

Fatty acid quantity [mg g−1 DW] for each drying treatment and stocking density. Average over five weeks ± SE (XLSX 24 kb)

ESM 4

Fatty acid quality [%] for each drying treatment and stocking density. Average over five weeks ± SE (XLSX 22 kb)

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Magnusson, M., Mata, L., de Nys, R. et al. Biomass, Lipid and Fatty Acid Production in Large-Scale Cultures of the Marine Macroalga Derbesia tenuissima (Chlorophyta). Mar Biotechnol 16, 456–464 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-014-9564-1

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