Growth of Chlorella outdoors in a changing light environment

Abstract

Chlorella zofingiensis was grown in semi-continuous culture in an outdoor enclosed tubular photobioreactor. At the quasi-steady state, the response of the culture to changes in photosynthetically active radiance (PAR) was studied by following closely the dissolved O₂ concentration,biomass concentration and the carbohydrate and protein content of the biomass. Generally, O₂ production and the output of carbon and nitrogen of the biomass showed a linear correlation with incident PAR, suggesting that the cultures were light-limited. Photoinhibition was not observed in high light adapted cultures (on a sunny day), but was observed in shade adapted cultures(cloudy days) when there was a sudden four-fold increase in PAR. The output rate of biomass nitrogen observed on sunny days was, however, lower than that measured on cloudy days. On sunny days, a rapid increase in the C/N ratio of the biomass was seen. We attribute the increase in C/N ratio on sunny days to a slower response of protein synthesis to big increases in PAR, compared to carbohydrate synthesis. The possible influence of this C and N response pattern on the productivity of outdoor algal cultures is discussed.