Photosynthetic Activity Measured In Situ in Microalgae Cultures Grown in Pilot-Scale Raceway Ponds

Masojídek, Jiří; Štěrbová, Karolína; Robles Carnero, Victor A.; Torzillo, Giuseppe; Gómez-Serrano, Cintia; Cicchi, Bernardo; Câmara Manoel, João Artur; Silva Benavides, Ana Margarita; Barceló-Villalobos, Marta; Pozo Dengra, Joaquín; Ördög, Vince; Gómez Pinchetti, Juan Luis; Acién Fernándéz, Francisco Gabriel; Figueroa, Félix L.

doi:10.3390/plants13233376

Open AccessArticle

Photosynthetic Activity Measured In Situ in Microalgae Cultures Grown in Pilot-Scale Raceway Ponds

by

Jiří Masojídek

^1,2,*

,

Karolína Štěrbová

¹,

Victor A. Robles Carnero

³,

Giuseppe Torzillo

^4,5

,

Cintia Gómez-Serrano

^6,7,

Bernardo Cicchi

⁴,

João Artur Câmara Manoel

^1,2

,

Ana Margarita Silva Benavides

⁵,

Marta Barceló-Villalobos

⁶

,

Joaquín Pozo Dengra

⁸,

Vince Ördög

^9,10,

Juan Luis Gómez Pinchetti

¹¹

,

Francisco Gabriel Acién Fernándéz

^6,7

and

Félix L. Figueroa

^3,*

¹

Laboratory of Algal Biotechnology, Centre ALGATECH, Institute of Microbiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, 37901 Třeboň, Czech Republic

²

Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, 37001 České Budějovice, Czech Republic

³

Institute of Blue Biotechnology and Development, Málaga University, (IBYDA), 29004 Málaga, Spain

⁴

CNR—Institute of Bioeconomy, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy

⁵

CIMAR—Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro 11501, Costa Rica

⁶

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Almería, 04001 Almería, Spain

⁷

CIESOL and Solar Energy Research Centre, Joint Centre University of Almería-CIEMAT, 04001 Almería, Spain

⁸

BIORIZON BIOTECH, Parque Científico Tecnológico de Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain

⁹

Department of Plant Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Széchenyi István University, 9200 Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary

¹⁰

Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Scottsville 3201, South Africa

¹¹

Spanish Bank of Algae (BEA), Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global (IOCAG), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35001 Las Palmas, Spain

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Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Plants 2024, 13(23), 3376; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13233376

Submission received: 22 September 2024 / Revised: 8 November 2024 / Accepted: 18 November 2024 / Published: 30 November 2024

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Algal Photosynthesis and Phytochemistry)

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Abstract

The microalga Scenedesmus sp. (Chlorophyceae) was cultured in a raceway pond (RWP) placed in a greenhouse. The objective of this case study was to monitor the photosynthesis performance and selected physicochemical variables (irradiance, temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration) of microalgae cultures in situ at various depths of RWP. The data of actual photochemical yield Y(II), the electron transport rate monitored by in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthetic oxygen production both in situ and ex situ revealed that (i) even in diluted cultures (0.6 g DW L⁻¹), the active photic layer in the culture was only about 1 cm, indicating that most of the culture was “photosynthetically” inactive; (ii) the mechanism of non-photochemical quenching may not be fast enough to respond once the cells move from the surface to the deeper layers; and (iii) even when cells were exposed to a high dissolved oxygen concentration of about 200% sat and higher, the cultures retained a relatively high Y(II) > 0.35 when monitored in situ. The presented work can be used as exemplary data to optimize the growth regime of microalgae cultures in large-scale RWPs by understanding the interplay between photosynthetic activity, culture depth and cell concentration.

Keywords: green microalgae; chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence; electron transport; non-photochemical dissipation; oxygen production; photosynthesis; photic layer; Scenedesmus; RWP

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MDPI and ACS Style

Masojídek, J.; Štěrbová, K.; Robles Carnero, V.A.; Torzillo, G.; Gómez-Serrano, C.; Cicchi, B.; Câmara Manoel, J.A.; Silva Benavides, A.M.; Barceló-Villalobos, M.; Pozo Dengra, J.; et al. Photosynthetic Activity Measured In Situ in Microalgae Cultures Grown in Pilot-Scale Raceway Ponds. Plants 2024, 13, 3376. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13233376

AMA Style

Masojídek J, Štěrbová K, Robles Carnero VA, Torzillo G, Gómez-Serrano C, Cicchi B, Câmara Manoel JA, Silva Benavides AM, Barceló-Villalobos M, Pozo Dengra J, et al. Photosynthetic Activity Measured In Situ in Microalgae Cultures Grown in Pilot-Scale Raceway Ponds. Plants. 2024; 13(23):3376. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13233376

Chicago/Turabian Style

Masojídek, Jiří, Karolína Štěrbová, Victor A. Robles Carnero, Giuseppe Torzillo, Cintia Gómez-Serrano, Bernardo Cicchi, João Artur Câmara Manoel, Ana Margarita Silva Benavides, Marta Barceló-Villalobos, Joaquín Pozo Dengra, and et al. 2024. "Photosynthetic Activity Measured In Situ in Microalgae Cultures Grown in Pilot-Scale Raceway Ponds" Plants 13, no. 23: 3376. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13233376

APA Style

Masojídek, J., Štěrbová, K., Robles Carnero, V. A., Torzillo, G., Gómez-Serrano, C., Cicchi, B., Câmara Manoel, J. A., Silva Benavides, A. M., Barceló-Villalobos, M., Pozo Dengra, J., Ördög, V., Gómez Pinchetti, J. L., Acién Fernándéz, F. G., & Figueroa, F. L. (2024). Photosynthetic Activity Measured In Situ in Microalgae Cultures Grown in Pilot-Scale Raceway Ponds. Plants, 13(23), 3376. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13233376

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Photosynthetic Activity Measured In Situ in Microalgae Cultures Grown in Pilot-Scale Raceway Ponds

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