Mass cultivation of marine diatoms using local salts and its impact on growth and productivity.

Diatoms are of great interest for many biotechnological applications. The present study highlights the comparative analysis for mass cultivation under the effect of seawater made from table salt (TS), rock salt (RS), and synthetic seawater in the presence of normal silica and induction coupled plasma (ICP) nanosilica (Nano Si) for inducing diatom growth. Out of all the test formulations, RS-f/2 Nano Si showed the best results with maximum cell density (3.16x107±0.04 and 3.24x107±0.05 cells mL-1), carbohydrate (403.0±3.4 and 398.0±8.1 mg g-1), and chrysolaminarin yield (66.2±5.5 and 49.3±5.1 mg g-1) in both Chaetoceros gracilis and Thalassiosira weissflogii respectively. The presence of a rich pigment profile and lipids further highlights the importance of TS and RS for cost-effective mass culturing. Results reveal that mass cultivation of marine diatoms with TS and RS in the presence of nanosilica not only reduces costs but also enhances metabolite production.