Fungal-assisted microalgae for promoting growth

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, 21511, Alexandria, Egypt.

2 Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

Microalgae culturing with fungal hyphae has attracted extensive consideration. This study examined the beneficial interaction between microalgae and fungi under artificial continuous illumination with fluorescent lamps set to 60 μEm−1 s−1 intensity at room temperature. The research will evaluate the algae growth dynamics at different co-cultivation times with different algal fungal loads. Highlight the species-specific dependence in terms of chlorophyll a content and biomass production. The studied microalgae encompass various characteristics, including freshwater and marine origins, motile, and non-motile properties namely C.vulgaris, N.oculata, and T.chuii and filamentous fungi A.fumigatus, R.arrhizus, and M.alpina. The growth of the symbiotic system within 72 hrs. indicated that the maximum biomass of 619.2 ± 0.97 mg/L was achieved between C.vulgaris and A.fumigatus in a ratio of 1:1. Consortia of T.chuii and A.fumigatus in a ratio of 2:1 recorded the highest chlorophyll a content of 8.16 ± 0.11 mg/L. Observing the structures of co-cultivated organisms under the light microscope validated that the microalgae cells and fungal mycelia were mutually tangled together to form the network morphology.

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