Pigment Productions by Spirulina platensis as a Renewable Resource

Recently, Spirulina platensis has scientifically become popular because of its importance as food, feed, and a natural producer of pigments with specific nutritional and functional characteristics. In this study, the effect of various environmental factors affecting growth conditions of Spirulina platensis, including primary inoculation, light-dark cycle, cultivation time, Light-Emitting Diode (LED) composition, nitrogen source, carbon source, and NaCl concentration, on biomass, C-phycocyanin (C-PC), Allophycocyanin (APC) and chlorophyll-a contents were assessed using Placket-Burman Design (PBD). Results showed that out of the seven screened factors, four factors of carbon source, LED composition, light-dark cycle and NaCl concentration significantly affected biomass production (p<0.01). Among the investigated factors, nitrogen source, light-dark cycle, and NaCl concentration had significant effects on phycocyanin production (p<0.05). Results showed that cultivation time, light-dark cycle, and NaCl concentration significantly affected the production of allophycocyanin (p<0.05). Furthermore, NaCl concentration, carbon source, LED composition, cultivation time, and initial inoculation included significant effects on chlorophyll-a production (p<0.05). The present study screened variables affecting biomass, phycocyanin, allophycocyanin, and chlorophyll-a production as the first step in optimizing Spirulina platensis growth condition. Briefly, NaCl concentration was one of the factors which had a significant impact on all responses. The dark cycle also had an effect on three dependent variables except for chlorophyll-a production.