Studies on growth and Phycobilin Pigments of the Cyanobacterium Westiellopsis iyengarii

The growth of Westiellopsis iyengarii was studied under different light intensities like low, medium and high light intensities (10μEm⁻²S⁻¹, 20μEm⁻²S⁻¹ and 40μEm⁻²S⁻¹ respectively). Medium light intensity enhanced the growth of W. iyengarii than the low and high light intensities. The same light intensity of light also enhanced the production of Allophycocyanin followed by Phycocyanin and Phycoerythrin. For the growth of W. iyengarii under different quality of light, the response of the organism was monitored at different wave lengths. Among the different wave lengths, blue light condition favored good growth of the organism in terms of protein and chlorophyll content and was followed by red and green light intensities. But the pigments Allophycocyanin, Phycocyanin and Phycoerythrin were high in red light. In the green light condition, though protein and Chlorophyll was found to a considerable level, Phycobillin pigments were absent. Cultures of nitrogen amended medium showed optimum results for all the aspects. Thus, the quality of light proved to have varied effect on the pigment production, which in turn reflected in protein content of the organism.