Investigation of Sistan deep aquifer well water potential for culturing microalga Dunaliella tertiolecta

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of deep aquifer well water located in Sistan region (southeastern of Iran) for growing Dunaliella tertiolecta. For this purpose, 5 treatments including deep aquifer well water with salinities of 20 and 35ppt, deep aquifer well water and salt of Urmia Lake (35 ppt) and tap water with salinities of 20 and 35ppt were considered and  D. tertiolecta microalgae was reared for 24 days under standard conditions (temperature 26±1ºC, light 2000 lux, 16 hours light and 8 hours darkness). The results showed that the pH value in all treatments increased slightly until day 6 but then decreased and had a steady trend from day 12 to 24. The highest amount of growth, chlorophyll a and carotenoid production, specific growth rate, the least doubling time and the highest rate of division were observed in deep aquifer well water treatment (salinity 20 ppt), although the lowest amount of biomass production was in this treatment. Based on these results, it can be said that if salt is added to deep aquifer well water, by changing the composition and increasing salinity, the amount of biomass produced will increase. In general, D. tertiolecta can be grown in deep aquifer well water (No. 1) extracted in Sistan region