Contamination with bacteria, protozoa or another species of algae is a serious problem for monospecific/axenic cultures of micro-algae. The most common sources of contamination include the culture medium (sea water and nutrients), the air (from the air supply as well as the environment), the culture vessel, and the starter culture.Seawater used for algal culture should be free of organisms that may compete with the unicellular algae, such as other species of phytoplankton, phytophagous zooplankton, or bacteria. Sterilization of the seawater by either physical (filtration, autoclaving, pasteurization, UV irradiation) or chemical methods (chlorination, acidification, ozonization) is therefore required. Autoclaving (15 to 45 min. at 120°C and 20 psi, depending on the volume) or pasteurization (80°C for 1-2 h) is mostly applied for sterilizing the culture medium in test tubes, erlenmeyers, and carboys. Volumes greater than 20 l are generally filtered at 1 µm and treated with acid (e.g. hydrochloric acid at pH 3, neutralization after 24 h with sodium carbonate) or chlorine (e.g. 1-2 mg.l-1, incubation for 24 h without aeration, followed by aeration for 2-3 h to remove residual chlorine, addition of sodium thiosulfate to neutralize chlorine may be necessary if aeration fails to strip the chlorine). Water treatment is not required when using underground salt water obtained through bore holes. This water is generally free of living organisms and may contain sufficient mineral salts to support algal culture without further enrichment. In some cases well water contains high levels of ammonia and ferrous salts, the latter precipitating after oxidation in air.
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..
