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Effects of the Light Irradiance on the Growth and Lipid Content of Amphidinium carterae (Dinophyceae) for Biofuel Production

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Abstract

The irradiance level used in the microalgae cultures can modify the growth and proximate composition; however, this response is specie specific. The dinoflagellate group has the potential to be used as a source of biofuel production. This study evaluated the effect of five irradiance levels (50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 µmol photon m−2 s−1) on the growth rate, proximal composition, pigment content, and photosynthesis of Amphidinium carterae. The highest cell concentration was for the cultures at 150 µmol photon m−2 s−1 (130 × 103 cells mL−1) and the lowest value for 50 µmol photon m−2 s−1 (49 × 103 cells mL−1). The cultures maintained under the lowest irradiance had the highest values of organic dry weight (ODW) and inorganic dry weight (IDW). The protein and carbohydrate content changes significantly concerning the irradiance level, with the higher values (1599.46 pg cell−1 and 557.24 pg cell−1, respectively) at an irradiance of 200 µmol photon m−2 s−1. Lipid content was modified by the effect of irradiance, with the highest values (6920.89 pg cell−1) at the lowest irradiance used. As a general trend, the high irradiances increased the photosynthesis rates. These findings demonstrate that the strain of A. carterae used in this work can grow in high irradiances (100 to 250 µmol photon m−2 s−1) and significantly increase the lipid content at low irradiance used.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Fátima Y. Castro Ochoa and Ceres A. Molina Cárdenas for figure edition. To the postdoctoral scholarship obtained from the Oceanography Division of CICESE.

Funding

This work has been founded by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) (grant project: SEP – CONACyT 130074) and CICESE (grant project: 623108).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aquaculture, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Carretera Ensenada – Tijuana 3918, Zona Playitas, CP 22860, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

    Armando Mendoza-Flores & M. del Pilar Sánchez-Saavedra

  2. Department of Marine Biotechnology, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Carretera Ensenada – Tijuana 3918, Zona Playitas, CP 22860, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

    Clara Elizabeth Galindo-Sánchez

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  1. Armando Mendoza-Flores
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  2. Clara Elizabeth Galindo-Sánchez
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Contributions

A. Mendoza-Flores: design and implementation of the experiments and manuscript preparation. M.P. Sánchez-Saavedra: design and supervision of experiments, data processing, contribution to manuscript preparation, and financial support. C.E. Galindo-Sánchez: contribution to manuscript preparation and financial support.

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Correspondence to M. del Pilar Sánchez-Saavedra.

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Mendoza-Flores, A., Galindo-Sánchez, C.E. & Sánchez-Saavedra, M.d.P. Effects of the Light Irradiance on the Growth and Lipid Content of Amphidinium carterae (Dinophyceae) for Biofuel Production. Bioenerg. Res. 16, 348–356 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-022-10455-9

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