Growth, antioxidant capacity and total carotene of Dunaliella salina DCCBC15 in a low cost enriched natural seawater medium

Dunaliella is currently drawing worldwide attention as an alternative source of nutraceuticals. Commercially, beta-carotene making up over 10 % of Dunaliella biomass is generating the most interest. These compounds, because of their non-toxic properties, have found applications in the food, drug and cosmetic industry. The beta-carotene content of Dunaliella cells, however, depends heavily on the growth conditions and especially on the availability of nutrients, salinity, irradiance and temperature in the growth medium. A chemically well defined medium is usually required, which significantly contributes to the cost of pigment production; hence a desire for low cost marine media. The present study aimed at evaluating the suitability of six different media, especially exploiting local potential resources, for the mass production of Dunaliella salina DCCBC15 as functional food and medicine. The efficacy of a new selected low-cost enriched natural seawater medium (MD4), supplemented with industrial N-P-K fertilizer, was investigated with respect to biomass production, chlorophyll, antioxidant capacity, and total carotene by Dunaliella though culture conditions were not optimized yet. This new medium (MD4) appears extremely promising, since it affords a higher production of Dunaliella biomass and pigments compared with the control, a common artificial medium (MD1), while allowing a substantial reduction in the production costs. The medium is also recommended for culturing other marine algae.