N. Navarro et M. Yufera, Influence of the food ration and individual density on production efficiency of semicontinuous cultures of Brachionus-fed microalgae dry powder, HYDROBIOL, 387, 1998, pp. 483-487
In the present study we examined the effect of food ration and individual d
ensity at the time of starting the harvesting stage, in determining the dem
ographic parameters in a semicontinuous culture of the rotifers Brachionus
plicatilis and B. rotundiformis fed freeze dried Nannochloropsis oculata. T
hree daily food rations (25, 50 and 100 mg l(-1)) and three rotifer densiti
es (250, 500 and 1000 rotifers ml(-1)) have been tested, in trying to maint
ain a constant availability of microalgal cells of 100 ng per individual. R
esults showed that with 10% daily dilution, the mean rotifer density during
the steady state remained at values similar to those pre-fixed at the begi
nning of the harvesting. The production (rotifers l(-1) d(-1)) increased wi
th the food ration, but the system efficiency (mg-rotifers produced per mg-
microalgae) was the same irrespective of the ration.