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The effect of Spirulina powder at levels of 0 (control), 3, 7, and 10%, of food ratio on growth, survival, and total carotenoids of dwarf gourami fry (Trichogasterlalius) of 3.6 g average weight as well as its larval stage was investigated for a period of 8 weeks. Carotenoids was significantly increased with increase in spirulina level up to 7% (p<0.05), but not significantly different from 10% level (p> 0.05). Survival showed no significant difference (p> 0.05). In larvae, survival, total carotenoids and total length increased significantly with increasing spirulina powder (p<0.05). Overall, the spirulina powder at 3% improved the growth and total carotenoids factors in pre-adult gourami and 10% level for larval stage as the best treatments in this study.

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Phosphate ions is one of the chemical pollutants that enters to the surface and underground water through municipal, industrial and agricultural wastewater. The aim of this study is to investigate the removal of phosphate from wastewater by Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis. To this purpose the microalgae added to 350 ml wastewater in lab experiment. In order to evaluate the effect of phosphorus removal, the experiment were performed during 8 days. The initial dry weight of Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis in wastewater samples were 0.02 and 0.05 g/L, respectively. During the growth period, the concentration of phosphate in aqueous solution were measured on days 1st, 4th, 6th and 8th by APHA standard methods through Bio spec-1601 spectrophotometer. Based on the results, the percentage of phosphorus removal by Chlorella vulgaris was 40.65, 38.0124.45 and 72.21 , and by Spirulina platensis was 20.13, 20.01, 10.44 and 42.79 for days 1 to 4, 4 to 6, 6 to 8 and 1 to 8, respectively. The final dry weight of Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis in wastewater samples were 3.93 and 1.93 g/L, respectively. From this study it can be concluded that the algae are able to remove phosphorus from wastewater and Chlorella vulgaris has higher ability of reducing phosphorus from waste water, and could be good candidate to reduce the phosphate in wastewater treatment.

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CO2 biosequestration by using algae is one of the promising and environmentally friend methods. The present study aimed at investigating the ability of Spirulina platensis in terms of growth and carbon dioxide fixation under different salinity levels and also variety of CO2 concentration. To this purpose, analysis of growth parameters including biomass productivity, specific growth rate and carbon fixation rate during the 8-day periods by maintaining the same conditions, under 3 salinity levels (3, 1500 and 34000 µs/cm) and four CO2 concentration (0.03%, 2%, 5% and 10%) were performed. this test have been performed in flat plate reactors by using pure stock of Spirulina platensis culturing in Zarrouk's medium . in all cultures, microalgae showed the highest specific growth rate during the first four days, as 0.35, 0.23, 0.24 and 0.24 d-1 in natural water, respectively. The highest carbon fixation rate and biomass production of Spirulina platensis were related to natural water (the city of birjand) under 10% CO2 concentration( 0.49 and 0.98 gL-1 d-1) that is followd by pure water of 0.45, 0.09 gL-1 d-1 and artificial sea water of 0.42 and 0.84 gL-1 d-1 respectively.the growth rate was lower in artificial sea water because of high salinity.

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Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate effect of pellets contain Spirulina platensis on physiological indices of Ctenopharyngodon idella.
Materials & Methods: The number of 450 grass carp (10±0.5g) were divided into six treatments (three replicates) and fed with pellets contain 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4% spirulina for eight weeks, compared to forage (control). At initial and the end of experiment, growth and nutrition indices, meat composition, hematological and immunological indices, and carotenoid of fish were mesured. Means were compared by one-way ANOVA, Tukey test (p ≤ 0.05).
Findings: The best total length, weight, FCR, SGR, body weight gain, nutritional efficiency, daily growth and dietary intakes were observed in 4% Spirulina treatment, which showed significant difference with control (P˂0.05). Fat percentage of meat in 4% Spirulina treatment had difference with control significantly (P˂0.05). The number of RBCs in 1% spirulina treatment had significant difference (P˂0.05) with control. The highest Hct and Hb were observed in 1% spirulina treatment, and the highest WBCs and eosinophils were observed in 4% spirulina treatment, which had significant difference with control. Also, the percentage of lymphocytes in algae-treated treatments was significantly (P˂0.05) higher than control and non-algae-treated treatment. The highest level of lysozyme, bactericidal and anti-trypsin activity of serum were in 4% spirulina which had significant difference with control. Carotenoid of fish meat didn’t show significant difference between treatments.
 Conclusion: According to the results, food pellets containing 4% Spirulina is recommended for improving growth and nutrition, hematological and immunological indices in grass carp.

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Aims: microalgae use has been recently attracted for the production of biologically active drugs and pharmaceuticals.Carbon source is an essential factor for the Spirulina maxima growth. Since finding the appropriate carbon source and its concentration to achieve high levels of biomass in the shortest cultivation period is very valuable. Therefore, the effect of different carbon sources (sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, glucose and molasses) with different concentrations (16, 24 and 32 gL^-1) on growth and biomass production were evaluated. Methods: Microalgae was grown in 11 treatments with 3 replications at labarotary temperature (28±3 °C) and 1350±100 Lux light intensity (24 hours exposure-time). Maximum specific growth rate and doubling time were calculated according to nonlinear modeling by Wolfram Mathematica software at 99% confidence interval. Findings: The highest biomass concentration (gL^-1) at the highest carbon source concentration in the first 5 days belonged to molasses (3.083), glucose (2.094), sodium carbonate (0.869) and sodium bicarbonate (0.835). Biomass production of treatments except glucose in medium was increased by increasing concentration from 16 to 32 gL^-1. Although molasses has reached on highest biomass production during the first 5 days of cultivation, but the greatest effect on increasing specific growth rate belongs to the glucose sample. Conclusions: As a result, the carbon source and its concentration had a significant effect on the growth and biomass production. Glucose has been selected as an effective carbon source for growth with a concentration of 24gL^-1. Moreover, the highest concentration of treatments had shown the least effect on specific growth rate.

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Aims: The increasing development of microalgae applications has led to the concentration of new multidisciplinary studies to facilitate commercial cultivation of these organisms due to cost reduction and productivity enhancement. The aim of this study was the growth and quality optimization of Spirulina biomass by changing the dilution of medium and using the aeration cycle.
Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the effect of concentration of Zarrouk medium (0 to 100% dilution) and aeration cycle on specific growth rate and dry weight, as well as the content of chlorophyll and carotenoids of Spirulina were investigated, using response surface method, central design. A total duration of 16 hours was aerated in any 24-hour period; the interval time between these aerated periods varied between 1 to 8 hours. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software, using multiple regression test.
Findings: The highest biomass (0.659mg/ml) was obtained at 80% concentration of culture media and aeration cycle of 2.75 hours and the highest specific growth rate (0.230 daily) was obtained at 60% concentration and aeration cycle of 4.5 hours. The highest aeration cycle (8 hours) resulted in a significant and simultaneous increase in the content of chlorophyll and carotenoids (11.65 and 2.67 mg/g, respectively).
Conclusion: The growth and quality optimization of Spirulina biomass can be accomplished by changing the dilution of the medium and using the aeration cycle.

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This experiment evaluated the effect of soluble polysaccharides in Spirulina platensis microalgae on growth performance, body composition and immune response of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). In this regard, 180 rainbow trout (17.22 ± 0.5g) were selected and distributed in five experimental treatments (with three replications). Treatments included different levels of polysaccharide in dosage of 0 (control), 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000 mg / kg of feed. According to the results, in growth factors (final weight, body weight gain, specific growth factor, protein efficiency, feed conversion ratio and condition factor), no significant difference was observed. The highest and the lowest amount of carcass proteins were observed in the diet containing 500 mg polysaccharide and control, which showed a significant difference. The amount of fatty acids of the muscle of the fish body did not show any significant difference among the treatments. The highest and lowest levels of lysozyme activity were observed in treatments of 2,000 mg polysaccharide and control and the highest and lowest levels of complement activity were observed in treatments containing 3000 mg polysaccharide and control respectively (P <0.05). In general, the use of polysaccharide extracted from micro-algae did not significantly improve rainbow trout growth, but a slight improvement in growth and body composition (protein) in 500 mg polysaccharide per kg of diet was observed. In terms of safety indicators, treatments of 2,000 and 3,000 mg of polysaccharides per kg of diet had a good performance and could be used whenever needed.
 

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Iran is the fourth main producer of kiwi fruit in the world but the post-harvest wastage of this valuable fruit is considerable. On the other hand, the microalgae are natural and extraordinary nutritional sources that can be used in the production of functional food. The purpose of this study was the formulation of an innovative product of kiwifruit with high durability and its enrichment with Spirulina platensis algae and investigation of some of physicochemical and sensory properties of this product. In this study, the effects of different levels of Spirulina Platensis micro-algae in four levels (0%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1%), agar hydrocolloids in three levels (0.25%, 0.5% and 1%) and guar in three levels (0.25%, 0.5% and 1%) on water activity, textural feature and color parameters of kiwi puree- based fruit pastille were studied and the best formulation been selected considering total acceptance and nutritional characteristics including vitamin C, total ash, protein, fat, fiber and iron and calcium content. The results showed that three variable (Spirulina Platensis, agar and guar) significant  effect on water activity. Additionaly, the results of coliremetre using Image processing techniques showed that the effects of agar and guar on "a*", "l*" and "b*" were not significant but Spirulina has a significant effect on color parameters on fruit pastilles. Texture analysis showed that agar and spirulina changed gumminess of the samples significantly. According to the sensory analysis, the 0.25% Spirulina, 0.25% agar and 1% guar obtained the highest score of total acceptance.  

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In this study, the impact of marigold and spirulina, both in isolation and in conjunction with one another, was analyzed on several indicators relating to growth, immunity, survival, and levels of astaxanthin present in zebrafish tissue. 120 zebrafish were randomly allocated to 10 litre aquariums across four different treatment groups (with three replications in each group, each containing 30 fish). The control diet is based on the basic diet, the second treatment diet contains 25 g/kg of spirulina powder (SP) on the basic diet, the third treatment diet contains 25 g/kg of marigold powder (MG) on the basic diet, and the fourth treatment diet It also contains 25 grams of marigold powder (MG) and 25 grams of spirulina (SP+MG)/kg of the basic feed. At the end of the experiment, some immune indicators and astaxanthin were checked in the tissue. The results of this study show the significant effect of spirulina (SP), marigold powder (MG), and the combination of spirulina and marigold powder (SP+MG) on immunity, and astaxanthin. Especially the marigold and the combined treatment of spirulina and marigold showed better performance (P<0.05). respectively, SP+MG and MG treatment significantly increased total protein, lysozyme, and astaxanthin in fish tissue, and the highest amount of IgM was observed in MG treatment (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in relation to growth and survival.

 

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 In this experiment, a total of 128 Hy-line W₃₆ hens at 63 weeks of age were used. The hens were put at random into 4 treatment groups (4 replicates and 32 hens per treatment) and were fed four different diets: three diets with different levels of Spirulina (1.5, 2.0 and 2.5%) and one control group based on wheat and soybean meal. All birds were housed in commercial cages, had ad libitum access to water, and were fed 100 g bird^-1 per day. Egg production, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg weight, yolk index, Haugh unit, shell thickness, shell weight, specific gravity, egg yolk cholesterol, and yolk color were compared with the control group. Egg yolk color was measured by the BASF Ovo-color fan. Our results indicated that these traits did not show any significant changes with the Spirulina addition (P> 0.05), while a significant increase in egg yolk color was observed in the treatments that received the Spirulina (P< 0.0001). Yolk color scores of the control group and different levels of Spirulina (1.5, 2.0 and 2.5%) were 1.5, 10.5, 11.4 and 11.6 in BASF color fan, respectively. There were not significant differences between the treatments with 2.0 and 2.5% of Spirulina. In conclusion, this study can suggest use of 2.0~2.5% of Spirulina in diet to produce an aesthetically pleasing yolk color.

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Microalgae are a potentially great source of natural compounds, which could be used as functional ingredients. The addition of microalgal biomass to foods is an interesting tool for production of nutritionally supplemented food materials with biologically active compounds, besides coloring purposes. Due to the growing consumption of sauces in human life and the necessity of food enrichment as an effective long-term strategy for dealing with nutritional deficiencies, a fortified functional sauce was prepared. In this study, Spirulina alga sauce was prepared with three levels of algae powder (0.3, 0.5 and 0.7%), and fortified with iron and zinc in three replicates and at analyzed during three time intervals. During the given periods (The 1st, 30th and 60th days of production), chemical, rheological and microbial analysis and sensory evaluation were carried out. The results showed a significant difference in pH (p<0.05). The acidity and static viscosity of some samples containing iron and zinc had a significant difference. Viscosity decreased during the time in each treatment, the dynamic viscosity was the lowest for the control sample and the highest for the samples of the three algae levels. Microbial contamination of samples was very low and was within the standards range. Sensory evaluation of the colors of the samples containing 0.5% algae level were preferable and did not significantly differ. Practically, in terms of odor, taste, texture and overall acceptability, there were not any significant differences. Consequently, this study showed that functional low-calorie fortified sauce can be produced with iron and zinc, using microalgae.

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In recent years there has been extensive research into the use of edible coatings in food packaging. Today, the use of edible coatings has increased due to consumers' desire to purchase products that maintain their freshness. In this research, edible coating based on different percentages of Spirulina platensis (0.5-1.5%) with constant percentages of gelatin powder (2%), chitosan powder (1%), and glycerol as lubricants was used. Physicochemical properties such as moisture content, pH, Acidity, color, total phenol, nutritional properties such as protein content, iron content and ascorbic acid content, sensory evaluation and microbial characteristics of control and other treatments were evaluated at days 0, 7 and 14 after production. The results of chemical tests showed the moisture content, acidity, phenol level were increased with increasing of Spriulina platencis in different treatments. The results of colorimetric analysis also showed that by increasing the percentage of spirulina the transparency of treatments decreased. The results of nutritional evaluation showed that there was a significant difference in protein, iron and ascorbic acid levels with increasing of Spirulina platensis (p <0.05). Increasing the amount of spirulina platensis was effective on the microbial growth as well as the taste and color of the treatments, which was diagnosed by sensory evaluation.

 

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Algae and microalgae are great potential sources of natural compounds that can be used to produce functional foods. Spirulina platensis is one of the edible microalgae with no side effects. Lack of cellulose in the cell wall of Spirulina platensis makes it easy to digest. However, other microalgae do not have this advantage. This property has made Spirulina platensis more valuable. The purpose of this study was to use Spirulina platensis as egg white replacer and investigate its effect on physicochemical and sensory properties of sponge cake during storage time. For this purpose, different egg white ratios (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% w/w) were substituted in sponge cake formulation with Spirulina platensis powder. The results showed that the addition of Spirulina platensis powder reduced the moisture content, specific volume, porosity and cohesiveness of the samples. Protein, fat, ash, pH and firmness of sponge cake samples increased with increasing amounts of microalgae powder. As the amount of Spirulina platensis microalgae powder increased, overall acceptance of the samples decreased, but this decrease was not significant (p˂0.05). In general, the use of Spirulina platensis powder in small quantities as an egg white replacer, improved the properties of sponge cake.

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The aim of this work was to develop an enriched apple jelly with Spirulina sp. Four formulations were developed: C, J1, J2, J3 with 0, 0.75, 1.5 and 3% Spirulina sp. and their rheological, textural, color and sensorial properties were evaluated. The results showed that all samples presented predominant behavior of the elastic solid. Also, the non-intersection of the loss and storage modulus curves at the applied frequencies showed the behavior of a typical gel. Also, in all samples, the dependence of the storage modulus on the frequency was not observed, but in larger frequencies, especially the storage modulus of sample with higher percentage of spirulina algae, decreased, indicating a more liquid behavior. Indicators n and m also confirmed such behavior, decreasing the strength of gel structure with increasing spirulina concentration. The data obtained from the force-time curve showed that even though the variables of all samples were within the range of a typical jelly, but increasing spirulina algae content decreased the hardness, adhesiveness elasticity, gumminess and increased cohesiveness. These results follow the trend of those obtained by dynamic rheology. Also, the results related to the sample color showed that the addition of spirulina in 1.5 and 3% percentages significantly decrease the variables L*, b* and C* especially in the sample with 3% algae, presenting a darker sample. The overall color difference between the samples also was more than 6 degrees, which detected different color groups. Sensorial scores of samples, mainly color and overall acceptance also reduced with increasing the percentage of microalgae.
In general, it can be concluded that incorporating of Spirulina in the apple jelly regarding to its negative effect on the most evaluated parameters, requires further research and a better understanding of its gel formation mechanism to optimize the formulation and process treatments.

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Fish is one of the most important and valuable sources of protein, fat and energy, but it is very corruptible and will be corrupted faster than other meat dishes. The present study was carried out to determine the effect of Spirulina  algae  chitosan  coating  on  maintaining  the  quality of  Huso  huso  fresh  fillet  during storage  in  refrigerator. Fresh fillets of chitosan solution (1%) containing 1% algae extract, treated and stored in a refrigerator. Microbial and chemical tests including total bacterial count and psychrophilic bacteria, pH, TBA as well as sensory evaluation were performed periodically for all specimens and measured for DPPH .eagla For algae - containing coatings, the total bacterial load was 2.56×10⁶ cfu/ml and on the fifth day it was still in acceptable range for human consumption, but in control samples, 3.81×10⁷ cfu/ml it was five days that exceeded the limit. Serum bacterial levels for control treatment were significantly higher than that of extract containing chitosan coatings and TBA values were significantly higher in the control fillets than in the first treatment, while the pH values in the control sample with the treated sample, there was no significant increase. Current study showed that using algae extract containing chitosan coating can prevent bacterial growth in fresh fish fillets and maintain its sensory properties including texture, smell, color and general acceptance. And increased the fish storage period in the refrigerator.
 

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The basis for modeling the shelf life of snacks enriched with Spirulina platensis is the storage temperature. After production, the snacks were packed in polypropylene bags and stored at 25°C (room temperature) and 5°C (refrigerator) for a specified period of 180 days. Shelf life studies were performed by semi-educated and consumer panelists. During this period, microbial tests (total count of bacteria, mold, yeast and coliform), moisture content and hardness were examined. Weibull hazard analysis was used to estimate the shelf life of snacks enriched with Spirulina platensis powder based on sensory properties assessment. Considering the 25% and 50% probability of rejection, the shelf life at 5 ° C for enriched and control samples was 98, 67 and 184, 158 days and at 25 ° C for 189, 125,217 and 321 respectively Were estimated. Also, the equation of shelf life with the probability of rejection by consumers was presented. Finally, enriched and control snacks were microbiologically evaluated. The results showed that the enriched and control snack samples were completely microbiologically safe for consumption over a 360-day period.

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Due to the concerns about the use of artificial colors in various foods, it is necessary to pay attention to sources with natural colors. One of these sources is the algae Spirulina, which contains the blue pigment phycocyanin. The aim of the present study in the first stage was to extract this pigment from the algae by enzymatic method and its nanoencapsulation. In the second stage, the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles were investigated. Finally, phycocyanin in both free and nano forms was added to the ice cream formulation and the qualitative and sensory properties of the product were evaluated in comparison with the control. The results showed that the produced nanoparticles have an average size of 397.1 nm. The encapsulation efficiency of the process was recorded 73.41%. According to the images recorded using scanning electron microscopy, the nanoparticle with different dimensions are scattered in the microscopic spread so that the particles are visible in different sizes. The release results of nanoparticles in vitro showed that at pH=1.2, the release percentage of phycocyanin is low (the first 2 hours). So that it fluctuates in the range of 7 to 13%. But after this stage (pH=7.4), the release rate increased significantly and from 35 to 71% at 3 and 4 hours, respectively. The use of pure phycocyanin in ice cream formulation improved the hardness, melting percentage, texture, hardness, crystalline intensity and coldness. But these indices were reported at a more favorable level in the treatment formulated with nanoencapsulated phycocyanin. The color index in ice cream formulated with pure phycocyanin was more desirable and more acceptable compared to the treatment with nanoencapsulated phycocyanin. Due to the properties of phycocyanin, especially the nanoencapsulated form, it can be used as a biological dye and improver the quality and sensory properties in various ice creams.