An aquatic fern, Azolla microphylla (strain 175 MI, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium), a natural source of protein, was used in this study to produce low-cost feeds for the omnivorous-phytoplanktonophagous tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus L. Fish were grown in a recirculating system and fed with six different diets in triplicate groups. Diets were formulated with approximately similar total protein, ranging from 27.25 to 27.52% dry weight (dw), gross energy content ranging from 85.1 to 96.5 MJ kg )1 dw, and with different levels of dry meal Azolla (0, 15, 20 30 40, 45% diet dw). All diet levels with incorporated Azolla meal exhibited weight gain, thus it can be assumed that Azolla in good combination with local products can be used to promote fish culture development. The Azolla-free diet and the diet containing 15% Azolla produced the same growth performance. However, the least expensive diet containing 45% Azolla also exhibited growth and can be used as a complementary diet for tilapia raised in fertilized ponds.

A unique, hereditary symbiosis exists between the water fern Azolla and cyanobacteria that reside within a cavity in the dorsal leaf-lobe of the plant. This association has been studied extensively, and questions have frequently been raised regarding the number and diversity of cyanobionts (cyanobacterial symbionts) among the different Azolla strains and species. In this work, denaturating gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and a clone library based on the 16S rRNA gene were used to study the genetic diversity and host specificity of the cyanobionts in 35 Azolla strains covering a wide taxonomic and geographic range. DNA was extracted directly from the cyanobacterial packets, isolated after enzymatic digestion of the Azolla leaves. Our results indicated the existence of different cyanobiont strains among Azolla species, and diversity within a single Azolla species, independent of the geographic origin of the host. Furthermore, the cyanobiont exhibited host-species specificity and showed most divergence between the two sections of genus Azolla, Azolla and Rhizosperma. These findings are in agreement with the recent redefinition of the taxon Azolla cristata within the section Azolla. With regard to the taxonomic status of the cyanobiont, the genus Anabaena of the Nostocaceae family was identified as the closest relative by this work.

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The polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify random sequences of DNA from 25 accessions of Azolla to evaluate the usefulness of this technique for identification and phylogenetic analysis of this aquatic fern. Accessions were selected to represent all known species within the genus Azolla and to encompass the world-wide distribution of the fern. Primers of 10 nucleotides with 70% G + C content were used to generate randomly amplified polymorphic DNA from the symbiotic Azolla-Anabaena complex. Twenty-two primers were used and each primer gave 4-10 bands of different molecular weights for each accession. Bands were scored as present or absent for each accession and variation among accessions was quantified using Nei's genetic distances. A dendrogram summarizing phenetic relationships among the 25 accessions was generated using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean. Principal component analysis was also used to evaluate genetic similarities. Three distinct groups were identified: group 1 contains five species, group 2 contains the pinnata species, and group 3 contains the nilotica species. The analysis demonstrates that the major groups of Azolla species can be easily distinguished from one an other and, in addition, that closely related accessions within species can be identified. We further found that using 10 primers, a phylogeny that is essentially the same as that derived from 22 primers can be constructed. Our results suggest that total DNA extracted from the Azolla-Anabaena symbionts is useful for classification and phylogenetic studies of Azolla.

The cyanobacterium Anabaena has both symbiotic and free-living forms. The genetic diversity of Anabaena strains symbiotically associated with the aquatic fern Azolla and the evolutionary relationships among these symbionts were evaluated by means of RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) experiments. Three DNA fragments corresponding to nif genes were cloned from the free-living cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120 and used as probes. A mixture of Azolla, Anabaena and bacterial DNA was extracted from Azolla fronds and digested with two restriction enzymes. Single-copy RFLP signals were detected with two of the probes in all Azolla Anabaena examined. Multiple-copy RFLP signals were obtained from the third probe which corresponded to a part of the nif N gene. A total of 46 probe/enzyme combinations were scored as present or absent and used to calculate pairwise Nei's genetic distances among symbiotic Anaebaena strains. Phylogenetic trees summarizing phenetic and cladistic relationships among strains were generated according to three different evolutionary scenarios: parsimony, UPGMA and neighbour joining. All trees revealed identical phylogenetic relationships. Principal component analysis was also used to evaluate genetic similarities and revealed three groups: group one contains the cyanobacteria associated with plants from the Azolla section, group two contains those associated with plants from the pinnata species and group three contains those associated with plants from the nilotica species. The same groups had already been identified earlier in a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of Azolla-Anbaena DNA complexes, suggesting that the present Azolla taxonomy should be revised. We now suggest a taxonomy of Anabaena azollae that is parallel to such a revised Azolla taxonomy. An Azolla chloroplast DNA sequence derived from Oryza sativa was also used as an RFLP probe on Azolla DNA to confirm the presence of plant DNA in the total genomic DNA extracted from ferns with or without the symbiont. Our results also suggest that total DNA extracted from the Azolla-Anabaena complexes includes both plant and symbiont DNA and can be used equally well for RFLP analysis of host plant or symbiotic cyanobacteria.