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Cultivation ofSpirulina in sewage for poultry feed

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Summary

A method for cultivatingSpirulina platensis in domestic raw sewage, coupled with pisciculture and water reclamation in an integrated recycling system, has been standardized. The alga is grown in an indigenously designed open-air pilot production unit consisting of 4 concrete basins with a total surface area of 450 m2. The harvesting and processing methods are based on simple filtration and sun drying. Extensive bench and field experiments have made it possible to produce pure blooms of AfricanSpirulina in sewage, using sodium bicarbonate and nitrate, and employing a fertilizing schedule which replenishes nitrogen withdrawn from the medium by the alga. Although urea and several ammoniacal nitrogen sources have been tried, the best source of protein-inducing nitrogen for mass cultivation ofSpirulina appears to be nitric nitrogen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Botanical Research Institute, 226001, Lucknow, India

    P. N. Saxena, M. R. Ahmad, R. Shyam & D. V. Amla

Authors
  1. P. N. Saxena
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  2. M. R. Ahmad
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  3. R. Shyam
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  4. D. V. Amla
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Additional information

Acknowledgments. We are grateful to Mr Lee St. Lawrence, WS Atkins Group Consultants, Epsom, England, for the microbiological analysis, and to Dr H.K. Srivastava, Animal Husbandry Department, Uttar Pradesh, for his invaluable help with the feeding experiments.

NBRI Research Publication No. 192 (NS).

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Saxena, P.N., Ahmad, M.R., Shyam, R. et al. Cultivation ofSpirulina in sewage for poultry feed. Experientia 39, 1077–1083 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01943117

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