Simultaneous effects of light intensity, temperature and salinity on the growth of some phytoplankton species important in aquaculture

Abstract

       A 3³ factorial experiment was used to study the simultaneous effects of light intensi­ty, temperature and salinity on the growth oft Tetraselmis suecica, Dunaliella tertiolecta and Phaeodactylum tricornutum, in mass rearing conditions. The relationship between algal growth and the simultaneous effect of studied factors was expressed by multiple regres­sion. The coefficients of partial correlation and beta coefficients (β), were used to quantify the relative importance of studied factors. These suggested that variation in light intensity had a more pronounced effect than a variation in temperature or medium salinity on algal growth rates. The synergistic effect between light and temperature was established for all three species.