title: Sustainable production of toxin free marine microalgae biomass as fish feed in large scale open system in the Qatari desert.
abstract: Mass cultivation of microalgae biomass for feed should be cost effective and toxin free. Evaporation loss in Qatar can be as high as 2 cm/d. Hence, production of marine microalgae biomass in Qatar would also require mitigating water loss as there was only very limited groundwater reserve. To address these issues, a combination of four growth conditions were applied to a 25,000 L raceway pond: locally isolated microalgae strain was selected which could grow in elevated salinity; strain that did not require silica and vitamins; volume of the culture would increase over time keeping denser inoculum in the beginning, and evaporation water loss would be balanced by adding seawater only. A local saline tolerant Nannochloropsis sp. was selected which did not require silica and vitamins. When the above conditions were combined in the pond, average areal biomass productivities reached 20.37 g/m(2)/d, and the culture was not contaminated by any toxic microalgae.
authors.affiliation: Center for Sustainable Development, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, 2713, Qatar. Electronic address: probir.das@qu.edu.qa.
authors.forename: Probir
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Center for Sustainable Development, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, 2713, Qatar.
authors.forename: Mahmoud Ibrahim
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Thaher
authors.affiliation: Center for Sustainable Development, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, 2713, Qatar.
authors.forename: Mohammed Abdul Quadir Mohd Abdul
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hakim
authors.affiliation: Center for Sustainable Development, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, 2713, Qatar.
authors.forename: Hareb Mohammed S J
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Al-Jabri
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D005399:Fishes / Q000254:growth & development*; D060587:Groundwater; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D058086:Microalgae / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D061005:Ponds; D011780:Qatar; D054712:Salinity; D012623:Seawater; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000378:metabolism; D014815:Vitamins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D008387:Marine Toxins; D014815:Vitamins; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Evaporation loss; Feed; Microalgae biomass; Toxin