Yield and biochemical composition of a marine cyanobacterium (Nodularia sp.) in outdoor culture.

ABSTRACT: The results are reported of an investigation into biomass output of N2-fixing marine cyanobacterium Nodularia sp, grown outdoors in open ponds (OPs) and in tubular photobioreactors (TPRs) The productivity in TPR was 13.2 g (dw) m-2 d-1, while in OP it was 11 0 g (dw) m-2 d-1. The higher productivity obtained in TPR compared to OP was probably due to a better temperature control in the system. Both true protein content and amino acid composition were very similar to that reported for Spirulina. The photoinhibitory effects of high light intensity on the photosynthetic activity of Nodularja was considerably reduced by using a black net for culture shading, which improved photosynthetic activity of the cyanobacterium.