Phycocyanin Production by Spirulina platensis

The use of natural colors instead of synthetic colors is of great interests. Many natural colorants are extracted from microalgea. Spirulina platensis is one of the most famous and popular microalgea that has high protein content and contains much pigments.The main pigment of Spirulina platensis is Phycocyanin, a bright blue color pigment which has many applications in the food industry, medicine and cosmetics. The purpose of the present study is to introduce Spirulina platensis, Phycocyanin, their nutritional values and their applications and is to review the previous researchs done in the field of Spirulina platensis growth and Phycocyanin production and methods to optimize it. Microalgae are very useful resources to product many nutritious ingredients and natural colors. They can be used in the food industry for various purposes such as adding them to a variety of foods like bread, Biscuit, cakes and gels. They can improve their nutritional values and physical properties. Due to high protein content of Spirulina platensis, it is considered an important food resource. It is also used for foods enrichment. Two major pigments in Spirulina platensis are Phycocyanin and Phycoerythrin. They can be good alternatives for synthetic colors. Results also show that several factors are effective on the growth of Spirulina platensis and production of Phycocyanin. These factors include light, aeration, salt, pH and carbon and nitrogen substrate. Replacement of expensive and low-yielding substrates with a variety of cheap and efficient is interesting subject for the researchers. The results showed that the most important factors influence the growth of Spirulina and Phycocyanin production are light and carbon and nitrogen substrates. Sugar and molasses are carbon substrates that can be used for Spirulina growth. Nitrogenous substrate has a greater impact on the growth of Spirulina. Urea is a cheap nitrogenous substrate which its specific concentration can improve Spirulina growth and Phycocyanin production.