The growth feasibility of Lomentaria sp. in Laboratory conditions.

Abstract

The growth feasibility of Lomentaria sp. in ocean water (OW) and inland saline water (ISW) at salinity 30‰ was tested in a series of four experiments. To grow Lomentaria sp., potassium chloride (KCl) was used to fortify ISW to approximately 100%, 66%, and 33% (ISW100, ISW66, and ISW33 respectively) of [K+] in OW and compared to two controls of OW and ISW. The results showed that the ISW66 medium resulted in the highest (P<0.05) Lomentaria sp biomass from day 14-56. The Lomentaria sp. was then cultured in OW, ISW and ISW66 enriched weekly with ammonium (NH4) 100 μmol by NH4Cl. A significantly slower reduction of specific growth rate (SGR) of Lomentaria sp. was recorded in the NH4 enriched waters than non-enriched waters. The effect of three temperature levels of 18-19°C, 21-22°C, and 25-26°C were also tested on the growth of Lomentaria sp. The 18-19°C resulted in highest biomass loss, whereas the higher temperatures resulted in similar SGRs of Lomentaria sp in both OW and ISW66. Four levels of NH4:PO4 including 0:0, 75:7.5, 150:15, and 300:30 μmol L-1 NH4:PO4 by NH4Cl and Na2HPO4, were weekly added to OW and ISW66, and these combined nutrient supplementation showed no effect on the Lomentaria sp. SGR. This study identified the suitable conditions for Lomentaria sp. growth in captivity as a temperature of 21-26°C, a supply of [NH4] no greater than 100 μmol L-1 in K+ fortification ISW 33-66% of [K+] in OW for higher biomass gain.