Total lipids production and fatty acid profile in Spirulina strains cultivated in flasks in a culture room and in photobioreactor under optimized set of culture conditions revealed that production of total lipid was more under photobioreactor conditions (23.64%) than in flasks (17.72%). Although similar fatty acids could be detected under both cultivation conditions but their amounts varied considerably. The percentage ratio of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) to total fatty acids (TFA) was found upto 26.83% and 28.20% under flask and photobioreactor conditions respectively and the PUFA content was enhanced upto 71.83 – 82.60% and 77.02 – 83.03% of total fatty acids for flask and photobioreactor conditions respectively.
Spirulina, Photobioreactor, Fatty acids, Palmitic acid, Linoleic acid, g -linolenic acid
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