Effect of Different Culture Media on the Growth of Soil Cyanobacteria for Soil and Water Conservation

Cyanobacteria are one of the main components of soil biocrusts in arid and semi-arid regions that grow in the surface layer of the soil. They actively participate in the cycle of elements by secreting polysaccharides and play an important role in improving soil quality and fertility. Accordingly, they have been used in soil and water resources conservation issues in recent years through cultivating and producing the required biomass in laboratory conditions and inoculating at the soil surface. However, the proper media for optimal growth of the soil microorganisms have not been reported comprehensively. The present study was conducted to select the optimal culture medium for the growth of cyanobacteria in experimental conditions. For this purpose, the performance of three culture media viz. BBM, BG11 and CHU10 was compared during the one-month growth period of soil cyanobacteria. In this regard, the types of grown microorganisms as well as the number of cyanobacteria present during the growth period of one-month and on average once every 4 days were examined. The results showed that soil cyanobacteria in BBM culture medium had better growth than the other two culture media and at the end of the growth period, the number of cyanobacteria grown in BBM, BG11 and CHU10 medium was 91790, 48638 and 1491, respectively, per milliliter. Therefore, BBM culture medium is proposed as the optimal culture medium for use in preparing the biomass required by cyanobacteria for inoculation at the soil surface.