328
J. Jeevanandam et al.
14.2.1 Availability
The major photosynthesizers on earth are the microalgae that produce important
various plant pigments. These natural colorants can replace the presently used
synthetic colorants used in food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical industries. Cascading event of symbiosis between heterotrophic hosts gave rise to the
diversified photosynthetic microalgae, which directs to the plethora of photosynthetic
pigments capable of utilizing various trophic levels in submarine habitats. Nearly a
quarter of the biomass in world’s total vegetation is constituted by phytoplankton.
Further, some microalgae, also contributes to the food web by acting as effective
primary producers. In an independent study conducted in the south east Asian region
disclosed the abundance and spatial distribution, the major taxon that are identified are Chrysophyta, Cyanophyta, and Pyrrophyta (Kadim and Arsad 2016). The
growth rate and distribution of microalgae are dependent on the environmental factor
and prevailing conditions, the factors that drive growth potential varies with every
species (Adenan et al. 2013). The parameters that affect the distribution are temperature, salinity, and water current (Cokrowati et al. 2014). Studies involving species
distribution, abundance, biological diversity index, and dominance index indicate
that the growth of microalgae is better in places with pristine environment and less
polluted areas.
14.2.2 Opportunities and Threats
Microalgae are considered as a contemporary attraction across the world due to its
varied areas of implications. Microalgae has shown a remarkable potential as value
added products in biology, but the most challenging portions in the production of
microalgae are enhancing growth rate, dewatering the culture for the production of
biomass, pretreating the biomass, standardizing the fermentation process (Khan et al.
2018). In certain conditions, local weather can be a major limiting factor that affects
the production rates; local species show better adaptability than the exotic better
yielding variants. Few species like Scenedesmus performs consistently in large-scale
production and it is considered as the validating species to study the biotic and a biotic
factor favoring and diminishing the growth dynamics (Lee et al. 2014). Agar plating
methods and micromanipulation show substantial improvement in the subsequent
processing of samples. Pure cultures are often established after several attempts;
hence, the preparatory cultures are retained till pure cultures are obtained. The three
primary algal pigments, β-carotene, astaxanthin, and phycocyanin are produced on a
large-scale to be utilized as organic food colorants. Besides the fact that the industry
has established, applied researches in these pigments are still developing at a rapid
rate (Perumal et al. 2015). Their impact on human health is to be explored to the
maximum to understand the usage spectrum and applications (Eriksen 2016).
J. Jeevanandam et al.
14.2.1 Availability
The major photosynthesizers on earth are the microalgae that produce important
various plant pigments. These natural colorants can replace the presently used
synthetic colorants used in food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical industries. Cascading event of symbiosis between heterotrophic hosts gave rise to the
diversified photosynthetic microalgae, which directs to the plethora of photosynthetic
pigments capable of utilizing various trophic levels in submarine habitats. Nearly a
quarter of the biomass in world’s total vegetation is constituted by phytoplankton.
Further, some microalgae, also contributes to the food web by acting as effective
primary producers. In an independent study conducted in the south east Asian region
disclosed the abundance and spatial distribution, the major taxon that are identified are Chrysophyta, Cyanophyta, and Pyrrophyta (Kadim and Arsad 2016). The
growth rate and distribution of microalgae are dependent on the environmental factor
and prevailing conditions, the factors that drive growth potential varies with every
species (Adenan et al. 2013). The parameters that affect the distribution are temperature, salinity, and water current (Cokrowati et al. 2014). Studies involving species
distribution, abundance, biological diversity index, and dominance index indicate
that the growth of microalgae is better in places with pristine environment and less
polluted areas.
14.2.2 Opportunities and Threats
Microalgae are considered as a contemporary attraction across the world due to its
varied areas of implications. Microalgae has shown a remarkable potential as value
added products in biology, but the most challenging portions in the production of
microalgae are enhancing growth rate, dewatering the culture for the production of
biomass, pretreating the biomass, standardizing the fermentation process (Khan et al.
2018). In certain conditions, local weather can be a major limiting factor that affects
the production rates; local species show better adaptability than the exotic better
yielding variants. Few species like Scenedesmus performs consistently in large-scale
production and it is considered as the validating species to study the biotic and a biotic
factor favoring and diminishing the growth dynamics (Lee et al. 2014). Agar plating
methods and micromanipulation show substantial improvement in the subsequent
processing of samples. Pure cultures are often established after several attempts;
hence, the preparatory cultures are retained till pure cultures are obtained. The three
primary algal pigments, β-carotene, astaxanthin, and phycocyanin are produced on a
large-scale to be utilized as organic food colorants. Besides the fact that the industry
has established, applied researches in these pigments are still developing at a rapid
rate (Perumal et al. 2015). Their impact on human health is to be explored to the
maximum to understand the usage spectrum and applications (Eriksen 2016).