Aquaculture microalgae applications

Astaxanthin is a high-value carotenoid produced from microalgae that is produced commercially. Astaxanthin is ubiquitous in nature, especially in the marine environment, and is responsible for eliciting the pinkish-red hue to the flesh of salmonids, shrimp, lobster and crayfish. Cultivation methods have been developed to produce Haematococcus containing 1.5-3.0% astaxanthin by dry weight, with potential applications as a pigment source in aquaculture, poultry feeds and in the nutraceutical area. " ... 

It is not possible, at present, to provide either a detailed resource base assessment (e.g., potentially available water, land, or nutrient resources), or a detailed cost analysis of aquatic plant production. Thus, this review presents general concepts of aquatic biomass farming exemplified by three systems — microalgae farming for lipid fuel and chemicals production, cattail cultivation for conversion to alcohol fuels, and growing water hyacinths for methane gas generation. Wastewater aquaculture applications are not covered in this review nor are the actual conversion processes by which aquatic biomass would be converted to fuels. 

In addition to applications as direct and indirect feeds mentioned above, the heterotrophic production of microalgae can potentially provide a cost-effective source of nutrient components, e.g. marine protein, PUFA or astaxanthin, that can be incorporated into formulated feeds for larval stages and beyond. Harel and Place (2004) provide more detail on the broad applications of heterotrophic production of marine algae for aquaculture. 

Seto, A., Kumasaka, K., Hosaka, M., Kojima, E., Kashiwakura, M. and Kato, T. (1992) Production of eicosapentaenoic acid by a marine microalgae and its commercial utilization of aquaculture, in Industrial Applications of Single Cell Oils, eds. D.J. Kyle and C. Ratledge, American Oil Chemists Society, Champaign, IL, pp. 219-234. 

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