Produksi Pigmen oleh Spirulina platensis yang Ditumbuhkan pada Media Limbah Lateks Pekat

Abstract

Spirulina platensis was cultured in a medium of skim latex serum under aerated agitation and low intensity of sunlight. When pH of the medium was maintained at 8.3 and optical density of the culture was kept below 1.0, the productivity of biomass could reach 7.7 g m-2 d-1. It is nevertheless lower than that of synthetic medium of 13.3305 g m-2 d-1. The two methods yielded comparable biomass density of approximately 1 g l-1 medium. However, total biopigment produced in latex culture was 24% of the biomass dry-weight, or 1.5 times higher than that in the synthetic medium. The pigments consisted of 22% phycocyanin, 0.9% carotenoid, and 0.8% chlorophyll a relative to the total biomass. Pigment production decreased along with increasing optical density of the medium. This study revealed that latex serum could provide beneficial effect on pigment production by S. platensis.