Occupational Medicine & Health Affairs
Open Access

Abstract

UAE soils are about 80% sandy and highly infertile containing high amounts of salt. Only salt tolerant/resistant crops like date palm and ghaf tree grow in these salt affected soils. To expand cultivation of crops in such soils, the soils need to be enriched with chemical or organic fertilizers. Two experiments were carried with Chlorella vulgaris and C. pyrenoidosa: In experiment I the cells of both the species were cultured in different culture conditions and in experiment II the cells were used as biofertilizer to germinate and grow lettuce, cucumber, and coriander and egg-plant seedlings up to one month. The nutritional requirements and growth conditions of the two species were different: Chlorella vulgaris was heat sensitive and salt tolerant, (up to 0.1% NaCl), grew best in Chu 10 nutrient medium, while C. pyrenoidosa is salt sensitive, and heat tolerant (up to 40�?ºC) grew better in Boldâ�?�?s basal medium, both maintained at 16h/8h light/dark photo period. When Chlorella pyrenoidosa live cells (11.8x104/ml) was used as bio-fertilizer, 97% of cucumber seeds germinated against 80% in controls while lettuce tolerated water deficit up to 7 days. Similar results were obtained in coriander when irrigated with C. vulgaris cells. One month old seedlings irrigated with either biofertilizer were with greener leaves and 1.5 to 2 timeâ�?�?s higher chlorophyll â�?�?aâ�? and â�?�?bâ�? content compared to the respective control plants among all the crops. The photosynthetic green alga Chlorella species seems to be a promising biofertilizer for these vegetable crops to be grown in the UAE soils.

Biography

T V Rajya Lakshmi completed her PhD Degree from Andhra University and Post-doctorate from Indian Institute of Sciences, India. She has worked in different institutes- Andhra University, Indian Institute of sciences, Directorate of Rice Research, India and Shalimar Biotech Industries, Dubai. She is working as Assistant Professor in University of Modern Sciences, Dubai. She has published 15 research papers in international and national journals and 20 research papers in international symposia and conferences.

Email: v.lakshmi@ums.ae