Cultivation of early life history stages of Porphyra dioica from the British Isles

Abstract

Bladed Bangiales of the genus Porphyra/Pyropia are highly valuable red algae and extensively farmed in South East Asia. Interest is rising in cultivating species local to the North East Atlantic but the control of the heteromorphic life cycle of native species remains difficult as previous studies reported high inter-and intraspecific variability in required cultivation conditions. Here, working with Porphyra dioica from a UK source population, we conducted a series of experiments investigating the influence of substrate, temperature, photoperiod and light intensity on the development of early life history stages (conchocelis (filamentous sporophyte) and young thalli (gametophyte)). Special focus was the influence of temperature and photoperiod on mature conchocelis to induce a conchospore mass release-the current bottleneck of European Porphyra cultivation. Sporophytes grew largest on an oyster shell substrate and under long day conditions at 18°C. A decrease in temperature from 18 to 9°C initiated a mass conchospore release (498 ± 146 spores mL −1) from a P. dioica conchocelis culture grown in suspension. Released conchospores germinated into small thalli on nylon ropes, with best growth (7.2 ± 0.9% day −1) at low temperatures of 9°C. Conchospore germination increased with decreasing light intensity but germination success was generally very low (< 5%), indicating the cultivation protocol needs further improvement. Our results reflect the adaptation of P. diocia to seasonal environmental conditions in temperate regions and the importance of these conditions for the successful cultivation. We are the first to describe a mass conchospore release for P. diocia growing in suspension which has important implications for commercial production.

Desiccation Stress Tolerance in Porphyra and Pyropia Species: A Latitudinal Analysis along the Chilean Coast

“…In Pyropia yezoensis , the HSP70 (heat shock protein) gene family showed upregulated expression under different degrees of desiccation stress [ 43 ]. In addition, the description of the life cycle of several species in both natural and controlled [ 44 , 45 ] environmental conditions and the high activation of the physiological tolerance responses compared with the species of other genera [ 8 , 20 , 27 ] allow for positioning of the Porphyra and Pyropia complexes as important models for studies not only at the ecological but also at the biotechnological level.…”

Development and Characterization of Films for Food Application Incorporating Porphyran Extracted from Porphyra dioica

“…Porphyra dioica J. Brodie and L. M. Irvine 1997 is a species native to the North Atlantic coast that occurs from the northeast coast of the United States of America to the northwest of Portugal in the intertidal zone [34,35]. It grows in a relatively wide range of conditions, such as temperature, photoperiod and light intensity [36], and due to its fast growth and high absorption of nitrates, phosphates and carbon dioxide, this species has a high potential for bioremediation, allowing its use in multitrophic culture systems [37,38] with fast biomass production at a low cost [39].…”

Red Seaweed Porphyra spp. (Bangiales) from Urimessing Waters of Ambon Island - Maluku

“…Water quality parameters are the initial physicochemical requirements for seaweeds that must be assessed before an aquaculture experiment begins. According to [9] Water parameters to stimulate seaweed growth are temperature, salinity, nutrients, detritus, CO2, water movement, light intensity, and day length. In this study, measurements of temperature, salinity, pH dissolved oxygen concentration (DOC), and water clarity were performed using digital thermometer HI 98509, Refractometer Atago Master-A2311, Portable pH-meter digital Adwa AD 11, DO-meter Lutron 5509 ATK and Secchi disc, respectively.…”

“…[7] and Tahalea, [8] is still using the name of Porphyra marcosii, probably because of some similarities with endemic species to the Philippines. Likely, alternating reproduction is common, but each species develops its own strategy by alternating the gametophyte phase with the sporophyte phase [9,10].…”