Marine microalgae co-cultured with floc-forming bacterium: Insight into growth and lipid productivity.

This study investigated the effect of co-culturing microalgae with a floc-forming bacterium. Of the six microalgae isolated from a biofloc sample, only , sp. and were propagated successfully in Conway medium. Hence, these species were selected for the experiment comparing microalgae axenic culture and co-culture with the floc-forming bacterium, . Results obtained showed that the co-culture had higher microalgae biomass compared to the axenic culture. A similar trend was also observed concerning the lipid content of the microalgae-bacterium co-cultures. The cell number of co-cultured with increased during the exponential stage until the sixth day, but the other microalgae species experienced a significant early reduction in cell density of the bacteria at the exponential stage. This study represents the first attempt at co-culturing microalgae with , a floc-forming bacterium, and observed increased biomass growth and lipid accumulation compared to the axenic culture.