Caulerpa macrodisca Decaisne, 1842 is a siphonous green macroalgae that has been reported to be distributed around southwest Asia (Sri Lanka); South China Sea; southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam); and Pacific islands (Samoan archipelago). However, the cultivation and consumption of C. macrodisca in the reported region were very uncommon due to the limited research on this green seaweed species. Thus, this study reported the growth rate, biomass yield, and proximate composition of C. macrodisca cultured in the tank. The C. macrodisca was successfully grown in the tank within 40 d under the following conditions: salinity (30.29–32.18 ppt), temperature (28.03–31.42 °C), dissolved oxygen level (DO; 4.75–5.21 mg L–1), pH (7.62–8.06), and light intensity (50.77–87.55 μmol photons m–2 s–1). The average specific growth rate of C. macrodisca in the tank was as high as 5.13 ± 0.06 % g day–1 – as indicated by average mass increments in terms of fresh weight (from 16...

Leachate from Jatibarang Landfill contains high amount of nitrogen, so it needs serious attention because it can pollute the environment. Denitrification is supposed to naturally reduce nitrogen in leachate. This study aims to determine leachate denitrifying activities in nitrogen reduction. Denitrifying communities in leachate that were collected in May 2006 from upstream and downstream were isolated and their denitrification activities were then tested in natural and synthetic media.
The nitrate reduction by denitrifier S0 culture (upstream) was higher than denitrifier S8 culture (downstream). The nitrate reduction by denitrifier S0 culture in synthetic medium during 168 hours incubation time reached 1547,9 mg/L, while in denitrifier S8 culture was only 1327,2 mg/L. The nitrate reduction by denitrifier S0 culture in natural medium pH 8,5 was higher than that of pH 7. In pH 8,5 the nitrate reduction in 168 hours reached 118,7 mg/L, while in pH 7 was only 62,2 mg/L.
From upstream and downstream leachate each obtained five isolates exhibiting different colony characteristics, they were Milk White (JDPS), Fluor White (JDPF), Grey White (JDPA), Orange (JDO), and Yellow (JDK). Those isolates were able to reduce nitrate to nitrite with different capabilities. JDPS isolate had higher capability compared to other isolates. The denitrification capabilities from the isolates in natural medium were higher than in synthetic medium. In natural medium the denitrification activities occured after the 24th hours, while in synthetic medium the denitrification activities occured after the 144th hours. This fact showed that denitrifier adaptation in natural medium was faster compared to that in synthetic medium. Furthermore, in natural medium the accumulation of nitrite had not occured.
From this study it can be concluded that leachate denitrifiers from Jatibarang Landfill have high potential denitrification activities, while its denitrification activities in leachate are low because of the low content of nitrate. Those denitrification activities are performed by denitrifying communities which contain at least 5 population mixes with variation denitrification capabilities.

One of the most noticeable consequences of global climate change is the increased occurrence of algae and cyanobacteria blooms in surface waters. Some of these organisms may release hazardous toxins which represent a threat for human and animal health worldwide. Accordingly, the identification of threshold levels of toxic cyanobacteria cells has become common practice to ensure successful water management. The majority of current methods for cyanobacteria enumeration and bio-volume assessment are very time-consuming and costly. Furthermore, when dealing with multicellular organisms (i.e., filaments, colonies, agglomerates etc.), none of the existing enumeration methods can achieve good accuracy and all tend to underestimate cell concentrations and bio-volume. In this study, we introduce an integrated method for automated enumeration and bio-volume estimation of Anabaena flos-aquae, a common filamentous species of cyanobacteria often present in water blooms. Since Anabaena filaments ...

Today there is a growing need to develop reliable, sustainable, and ecofriendly protocols for manufacturing a wide range of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. The biogenic synthesis of nanoparticles via nanobiotechnology based techniques has the potential to deliver clean manufacturing technologies. These new clean technologies can significantly reduce environmental contamination and decease the hazards to human health resulting from the use of toxic chemicals and solvents currently used in conventional industrial fabrication processes. The largely unexplored marine environment that covers approximately 70% of the earth’s surface is home to many naturally occurring and renewable marine plants. The present review summarizes current research into the biogenic synthesis of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles via marine algae (commonly known as seaweeds) and seagrasses. Both groups of marine plants contain a wide variety of biologically active compounds and secondary metabolites that ...

A survey of different wheat growing areas in and around Lahore, Pakistan was conducted to study the incidence of yellow stripe rust on wheat crop during 2013. The areas surveyed for this purpose included Bedian Rroad, Barki Hadiara Road, Mamala Laluwali, Padana, G.T Road Awan Dhaianwala, Jandiala Ganjay Sindhwa and Marl Mari. Samples were collected from highly infected fields during survey. Sehar, Faisalabad-2008, Inquilab-91 and Millat varieties of wheat were inspected, and it was observed that the incidence of rust was variable on each variety. The disease appeared on all varieties and its percentage incidence was recorded as 65%, 55%, 40% and 25% on Sehar, Faisalabad-2008, Inquilab-91, and Millat, respectively. During the field visits pustules of citron yellow colour were observed on the leaf surfaces as long stripes and were hardly found on shoot and heads. As the crop reached maturity, yellow spores were formed in the stripes and cover whole epidermis of the leaf. Morphological...

SUMMARY  The kinetics of surface phosphatase activity (PA) in the diatom Synedra acus were studied at low substrate concentrations that are frequently encountered in freshwaters and pH variations typical of hardwaters, ranging from pH 7 to pH 9. Higher pH resulted in higher values for the half saturation constant (Km) and the maximal velocity (Vmax).  The pH optimum of PA was shown to be a linear function of the logarithm of substrate concentration.  Similar slopes of Michaelis‐Menten curves at different pHs in the range of low substrate concentrations indicate that the species is well adapted to hardwaters. The rate of release of phosphate from enzymaticaliy hydrolysable phosphorus was calculated from Michaelis‐Menten kinetics for lake‐water samples dominated by S. acus. Algal surface phosphatases were responsible for the hydrolysis of 1.54–1.64 nm min−1 although incubation was performed at a lake temperature of only 7.3°C.

We examined bioaccumulation of Cu, Cr and Ni and their effects on oxidative stress parameters in the green alga Ulva lactuca to determine at a Jeddah City, in order to determine their bioindicators potential.Concentrations of the selected elements (Cu, Ni and Cr) in algal tissues were 16, 24 and 11-fold higher than that in water.Algae collected from seawater had 40% lower total chlorophyll content when compared with controlled algae. On the other hand, lipid peroxidation and H2O2 content were increased in algae collected from seawater by 2-fold each when compared with controlled algae. Antioxidant enzymes showed difference in response, while SOD and POX were increased by 51 and 35%, respectively, CAT showed a decrease by 37% when compared with controlled algae. Our data prove that the toxicity levels of environmentally monitored or exposed heavy metals in algae can be simply and accurately estimated by measuring total Chl content, lipid peroxidation product MDA of samples, and non-e...

The present study was carried out to evaluate the concentrations of some trace metals in the water of Lake Mariut and their accumulation in tissues of the green alga (Cladophora herpestica). Sampling of water and algae were carried out at four different sites throughout the period from July to Sept 2017. The water of the collected samples was mostly alkaline (7.91-8.51) and showed a wide range of variation in Biological Oxygen Demand "BOD" (5.11-18.92 mg L-1), Chemical Oxygen Demand "COD" (21.36 - 81.36 mg L-1) and Electric conductance "EC" (918 -1827 μS Cm-1) Concentrations of heavy metals in algae were higher compared to their levels in water samples. The concentrations of the selected trace metals were ranged between 11.19 μg L-1 for Pb in water samples collected from site 1 to 271.36 mg Kg-1 for Cd in algae collected from site 3. The concentrations of trace metals exceeded the Egyptian Standards limits. The results showed that the water quality is u...

Globally, biofuels are produced from the agricultural sources or biomass which contains higher feed stock material and agricultural component. These sources are used as a good source for the good yield of biofuels that results to higher energy production. These biomasses comprised of various organic chemicals which are processed for production like sugars, starch and hydrocarbons components. Industrial, agricultural and domestic wastes are treated and converted to biosolids or sewage sludge, which contains a diversity of organic chemicals in different ranges. Organic chemicals like hydrocarbons, alkanes, alcohols, esters, ethers, various amines, and isomers of compounds were studied in the sewage sludge. As with the variety of sewage sludge it might be used for the production of fuels for energy production. Studies and discussions in the way to use sewage sludge give the assumption for the alternative's sources or biomass for the production of biofuel.

Green Seaweeds are a valuable feedstock that can be utilized in poultry feed. Due to their recalcitrant polysaccharide structure, their use is still limited in poultry farming. This structure can be broken by a biotechnological approach such as solid-state fermentation (SSF) such as Trichoderma reesei, which simultaneously increases the nutritional value of the biomass. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of supplementation of fermented and non-fermented green seaweed (Ulva lactuca) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass characteristics, caecal microbiota, serum biochemistry, and antioxidant status in growing Japanese quails. Japanese quails (n = 375; one day old) were divided into five groups, with three replicates per group (25 quails in each replication). The quails were fed with five experimental diets, namely a control diet (basal diet without supplement), a basal diet supplemented with 1% and 2% green seaweed (GS) as well as 1% and 2% fermented green seaweed (FGS) for 42 days. The results showed that the groups fed FGS had a greater body weight gain and better feed conversion ratio than the other groups. The FGS groups showed the highest digestibility of crude protein and crude fiber, followed by the GS groups. FGS supplementation decreased abdominal fat percentage while increasing the bursa of Fabricius weight. The count of Lactobacillus was significantly increased in quails fed either GS or FGS, while Clostridium perfringens and Escherichia coli were decreased. The green seaweed-fed groups had significantly greater total protein, albumin, and globulin levels than the control group. Total lipids, triglycerides, cholesterol, HDL, and LDL were decreased in quails-fed diets containing 1% and 2% FGS. The quails in FGS diet groups had higher levels of total antioxidant capacity, catalase, and superoxide dismutase than the other groups, but lower levels of MDA. In conclusion, adding up to 2% fermented Ulva lactuca to the basal diet of Japanese quail promotes the growth and health of quails.

A study was conducted to analyze the diversity of Algal components of Kaanam river of Kannur district, Kerala..The study showed that there were 40 algal species from four classes such as Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae,Cyanophyceae and Eugleninae. The nature of species observed indicated that the pollution level was high in theexperimental locations.

Forty-six species of planktonic, edaphic, epipsammic, epioikotic, epilithic and epiphytic blue- green algae belonging to the class Chroocophyceae have been collected from various freshwater habitats in the Districts of Attock, Gujranwala, Jhang, Jhelum, Khushab, Lahore, Sargodha, Sheikhupura and Sialkot of the province of the Punjab, from Bahrain and Kalam (Swat) in the province of N.W.F.P. as well as from Chenari, Muzaffarabad and Neelum Valley in Azad Kashmir during different seasons from March 1996 to August 2000. They were taxonomically investigated and found to belong to two orders, three families and eleven genera. Johannesbaptistia and Stichosiphon were represented by a single species, Aphanothece, Gleothece and Synechocystis by two, Synechococcus by three, Aphanocapsa by four, Microcystis by six and Chroococcus and Merismopedia by eight species. Gloeocapsa exhibited the largest diversity with ten species.