Identification of a newly isolated microalga from a local pond and evaluation of its growth and nutrients removal potential in swine breeding effluent

Abstract

In this study, an alga which grew robustly in a local pond was purified and identified, and its growth and nutrients removal potential in swine breeding effluent at concentration of 0, 20%, and 50% dilution were evaluated. The results showed that the isolated alga was identified as Scenedesaceae sp. with assistance of both DNA sequencing and morphological observation. Better growth curves were observed in 20% and 50% dilution with the growth rates being 0.275 and 0.279 d⁻¹, respectively, when compared with that in BG-11 medium. The maximum removal efficiencies of total phosphorus, COD, and ammonia nitrogen were 80.4, 37.1, and 98.2%, respectively, at the end of 12-day cultivation period. It is suggested that the isolated strain was highly promising for the ongoing efforts on mass cultivation of microalgae for treating swine breeding effluent coupled with biomass production.

Keywords:

• Identification
• Growth
• Nutrients removal
• Swine breeding effluent

Acknowledgments

The study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40871101), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang province, China (NO.Y12E080084) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (20110491792). The authors are grateful to Zeng Zhang-hui and Li Xiao-yan for providing guidance on molecular analysis, and also gratefully acknowledge all the reviewers for their great contribution to the improvement of this article.