Ciliates are a common but less-explored group of contaminants in microalgal cultures that feed on microalgae and can cause servere losses in productivity of cultures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of biological control to eradicate ciliates from microalgal culture. In lab-scale experiments, we used the carnivorous cyclopoid copepod Acanthocyclops robustus a a biological control agent to eliminate ciliate Sterkiella from cultures of the microalga Chlamydomonas. Our experiments showed that the Acanthocyclops robustus can consume up to 400 ciliate individual-1 day-1. Addition of 0.07 copepods mL-1 to a culture that was contaminated with 10 ciliates mL-1 resulted in a complete elimination of ciliates from the culture within 1 day and restored the algal biomass production at a level of non-contaminated culture. Addition of copepods to a fresh Chlamydomonas culture did not cause a reduction in the microalgal biomass concentration, indicating that this copepod did not feed on Chlamydomonas. These laboratory-scale experiments indicate that copepods have potential to be used as biological control agent to address the problem of contaminationof large-scale microalgal culture by ciliates.
Tạp chí khoa học Trường Đại học Cần Thơ
Lầu 4, Nhà Điều Hành, Khu II, đường 3/2, P. Xuân Khánh, Q. Ninh Kiều, TP. Cần Thơ
Điện thoại: (0292) 3 872 157; Email: tapchidhct@ctu.edu.vn
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