International audienceBACKROUND: Spirulina platensis (Toliara, Madagascar) provides a food supplement which can fight against malnutrition and food insufficiency in Madagascar. In this country, the current production from three open basins is not sufficient to cover needs, and presents drawbacks such as low productivity and possible contamination. Thus cultivation of S. platensis in a closed photobioreactor opens the possibility of extending this microalga production. In this study, the influence of colour and intensity of the light on S. platensis growth and protein content was investigated in a bubble column.RESULTS: Growth kinetics were obtained for four colours (green, white, red and blue) and four intensities (400, 800, 1000 and 1200 lux) of light. The influence of light colour on Spirulina growth was discussed. The highest productivity (183.6mg L(-1) d(-1)) and concentration (2643mg L(-1)) were obtained for green light at 1200 lux. The protein content was 58%.CONCLUSION: Using green light allows improvement of S. platensis growth. Performance obtained with the closed system was higher than that reported in the literature

Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis Toliara isolated from alkaline and salt lakes in the southwestern area of Madagas car is a potential source of proteins that could efficiently fight against food deficiency in developing countries like Madagascar. Up to now, productivity in this country has been low, so a better understanding of the growth condi tions of this species is needed to improve its production. Growth experiments were undertaken in bubble columns at laboratory scale. The influence of agitation of the culture, medium salinity (ranging from 13 to 35 g L-1) and CO2 addition (ranging from 0 to 2%, v/v) on growth and protein content was examined. Because Arthrospira cells are frag ile, a bubble column without additional mixing gave the best growth. Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis showed higher specific growth rate (µ, max) and protein content for lower salinity. Addition of 1% of CO2 improved the productivity by near 60%. The feasability of semi-continuous culture was demonstrated and optimal culture conditions led to a mean productivity of 0.22 ± 0.03 gL-1 d-1 , a mean specific growth rate of 0.015 ± 0.002 h-1 and a protein content of 53 ± 2% of total dry weight.