The Biochemical Composition of Chaetoceros muelleri (Lemmermann Grown) with an Agricultural Fertilizer

The aim of this work was to demonstrate that the source of nitrogen of microalgae growth media has an effect on the biochemical composition by comparing the composition of Chaetoceros muelleri grown in semicontinuous cultures with 30% daily dilutions with an agricultural fertilizer containing three nitrogen sources (AF) and with the traditional f/2 medium. The cell yields, proximate composition, and total essential and nonessential amino acid contents of C. muelleri were similar, but phenylalanine and glutamate were significantly higher with f/2, and alanine was higher with AF. Monounsaturated fatty acids were higher in AF‐grown cultures, but polyunsaturates were higher with f/2. Among polyunsaturates, 20:5n‐3 (eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA) was higher with AF (17.16%) than with f/2 (13.44%), whereas f/2 yielded cells richer in 20:4n‐6 (arachidonic acid, ARA: 2.08% vs. 1.38%) and 22:6n‐3 (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA: 6.86% vs. 3.80%). Our results provide evidence that different nitrogen sources may cause variations in the biochemical profile of C. muelleri.