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Abstract
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Carotenoids are a group of pigments which have an important role in plants light absorbance. They include mainly beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lycopene and xanthophyll. Beta-carotene is industrially produced in a few countries due to its widespread use such as; food pigments, cosmetics and precursor of vitamin A. Beta-carotene is more efficiently produced through microalgae compared to plants, bacteria and fungi, since microalgae can be cultured more extensively all year long with more available nutrient and higher yield. In this study, high salinity has been applied to microalgae species that obtained from Caspian Sea and pure culture of Dunaliella Salina. Microalgae was grown in the modified Johnson culture and on a daily basis, 5 mM of carbon source was added. The amounts of beta-carotene, chlorophyll, total carotenoids, and proteins have been spectrophotometrically measured. Biomass accumulation also has been measured using cell counting and spectrophotometry. The accumulated Beta-carotene in Caspian sea microalgae was comparable to the obtained values of pure microalgae of Dunaliella Salina. Therefore, mixed microalgae culture can be used for Beta-carotene production which is preferable and more economical than sterile systems and consequently the possibility of process industrialization will be increased.
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