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5 0% Z m m e d i u m w a s s u p p l e m e n t e d w i t h 5% v o l u m e / v o l u m e b io g a s e f f l u e n t a si n i ti a l d o s e . A g i t a t i o n w a s e s s e n t i a l l y b y h a n d p a d d l e , a n d i n t e r m i t t e n t l y .T h e p o n d s w e r e n e v e r c o v e r e d . T h e p H v a l u e r a n g e d f r o m 9 . 0 i n i t i a l l y t o1 0 . 5 a n d a b o v e , f i v e d a y s a f t e r i n o c u l a t i o n . L i g h t i n t e n s i t y ( lu x ) v a r i e db e t w e e n 2 8 , 0 0 0 / 0 8 . 0 0 h , 7 8 , 0 0 0 / 1 2 . 0 0 h a nd 3 0 , 0 0 0 / 1 6 . 0 0 h . T h e a v e r a g ec u l t u r e t e m p e r a t u r e s w e r e 3 1 C at 0 8 . 0 0 h , 3 7 C a t 1 2 . 0 0 h a n d 3 5 C a t1 6 . 0 0 h . H a r v e s t i n g w a s d o n e o n a l t e r n a t e d a y s . A s p e c i a l p h e n o m e n o no b s e r v e d i n t h e s e p o n d s w a s t h a t t h e a l g a e f l o a t e d a s m a t s i n t h e e a r l y h o u r s ,f a c i l i t a t i n g e a s y h a r v e s t b y s i m p l y s c o o p i n g t he a l g a l m a t w i th c o t t o n f i l t e r s ,A b i c a r b o n a t e - p h o s p h a t e - n i t r a t e b o o s t w a s g i v e n t o p o n d A a f t e r e a c h h a r v e s tw h e r e a s i n p o n d B o n l y b i o g a s e f f l u e n t w a s a d d e d , a t 1% l e v e l a f t e r e a c h h a r v e s t .

R E S U L T S A N D D IS CU S SIO N .. H a r v e s t i n g w a s c a r r i e d o u t o n a l t e r n a t e d a y s ;o n l y h a l f t h e c u l t u r e q u a n t i t y w a s h a r v e s t e d , s o th a t t h e r e m a i n i n g c u l t u r ea c t e d a s t h e i n o c u l u m t o p r o v i d e a c o n t i n u o u s c u l t i v a t i o n s y s t e m . T h e s eo p e n p o nd s y t e m s h a v e b e e n r u n n i n g c o n t i n u o u s l y f o r s i x to e i g h t m o n t h s a n di t is w o r t h w h i l e to a d d t h a t t h e s t a r t i n g i n o c u l u m f o r o t h e r e x p e r i m e n t s h a v eb e e n t a k e n f r o m t h e s e po n d s . I n o t h e r w o r d s , t h e p o n d c u l t u r e s h a v e b e e nc o n s i s t e n t l y h e a l t h y , t h o ug h t h e r e w e r e i n f r e q u e n t c a s e s o f c o n t a m i n a t i o n b yd i a t o m s a n d f l a g e l l a t e s .

N o s t r o n g c o r r e l a t i o n s c o u l d b e m a d e b e t w e e n d e p t h of t h e c u l t u r e a n dh a r v e s t . I n o p e n p o n d s of 1 0 c m d e p t h , t he h a r v e s t i n g w a s d o n e b y p o u r i n gt h e s l u r r y o v e r c o t t o n c lo t h f i l t e r s f o r b o t h S p i r u l i n a IA R I an d S p i r u l i n a ( j) ,w h e r e a s b y i n c r e a s i n g t h e c u l t u r e d e p t h i n t h e c a s e o f S p i r u l i n a ( j) ,h a r v e s t i n g c o u l d b e e a s i l y c a r r i e d o u t b y s c o o p i n g t h e f l o a t in g a l g a l m a t .H o w e v e r , t h e i n c r e a s e d d e p t h a l s o n e c e s s i t a t e d i n c r e a s e d n u t r i e n t i np u t a st he i n i t i a l d o s e . W e h a v e y e t t o r e a c h a c o m p r o m i s e w h e r e a l g a l m a tf o r m a t i o n c a n b e c o n s i s t e n t l y a c h i e v e d w i t h a c u l t u r e d e p t h l e s s t h a n 30 c m .

T h e b o n e m e a l s u b s t i t u t e d e x p e r i m e n t u s i n g S p i r u l i n a I A R I g a v e a s g o o da h a r v e s t a s t h e 5 0% Z m m e d i u m . T h e a l t e r n a t e d a y h n r v e s t i n 50% Z m

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medium varied from 12 gm/m2/2--- days to 23 gm/m2/2- days with an averageharv est of 10.1 gm /m 2 day. In the boneme al substituted medium the alterna teday harvest varied from 14-20 gm/m2/2 days with an average harvest of9.8 gm /m 2 day for a perio d of 60 days.

Spirulina IARI utilizing biogas effluent as suppl ement to 1/2 Zm med iumgave consistent ly bette r harve sts comp ared with the utilization of full Zm.medium. The average harves t, over a period of 45 days, was 8.86 gm /m 2day in full Zm medium, 10.88 g m/ m 2 day in 1/2 Zm medium supplem entedwith biogas effluent and 9.41 gm /m 2 day in 1/3 Zm medium supp lement edwith biogas effluent.

For Spirulina (j) the average harvest in the biogas effluent supplemented50% Zm mediu m was 12.39 g m/ m 2 day as c omp are d to 10.3 gm /m 2 dayrecorded in 50% Zm medium.

It appears that the useful characteristic of algal mat formation foundwith Spirulina (j) is favoured by: 1) the pre sen ce of gas vacuoles in the alga,2) the gr ea te r cul ture depth used, and 3) the redu ctio n of light pene trati ondue to the addition of biogas effluent to the medi um. Such algal mat f ormat ionwas not often observed in ponds of 10 cm depth.

The economics of Spirulina cultivation in a medium supplemented withbiogas effluent have been worked out (Seshadri, 1978). Protei n analysis car rie dout at the National Dairy Res ear ch Institute, Bangalore, India showed 40.11%crude protein in Spirulina IARI and 59% crude protein in Spirulina (j).Microbiological analysis of the process ed algae, and feeding tria ls, have beenstar ted.

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R E F E R E N C E S :

1, Sesh adr i, C. V., and Thom as, S. (1978). National Solar Ene rg y Convention,Bhavnagar, India. A7, 41-46,

2. Zarro uk, C. (1966). Contri bution ~ It~tude dtune cyan ophyc es: influ ence dedivers facteurs physiques et chimiques sur la croissance et [a photosynth~sede Spirulina maxima (Setchell et Gardner) Geitler; The sis, Universit~ de Paris.

3. Sesh adr i, C. V. (1978). Conf ere nce on 'The State of the Art of Bio con ve rsi onof Organic Resid ues for Rural Commun itie s t, The United Nations Univ ersity ,Guatemala.

4. Jee ji Bai, N. (1978). A local isolate, taxonomi cally cla ssif ied by Dr. N. Jee ji Baof the Universi ty of Madras, as Spirulina geitleri.