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enough quantities. Health effects could occur algae are barely visible, but, during warm weather,
populations can rapidly increase to form a large mass
when surface scums or water containing high called a bloom. Blooms most commonly occur during
levels of blue-green algal toxins are swallowed, the late summer and early fall.Blue-green algae thrive
through contact with the skin or when airborne in areas where the water is shallow, slow moving, and
droplets con-taining toxins are inhaled while warm, but they may also be present below the surface
in deeper, cooler water. One key factor affecting growth
swimming, bathing or showering. rates is the level of available nutrients such as phos-
phorus and nitrogen
Navratna Journal JAN-FEB 2008 Page : 63
Green algae suggested for biofertilizer production in out from the soil. The soil should be preferably taken
Orissa, one efficient Nitrogen fixer Nostoc carneum from a fallow land since it is low in Nitrogen and mi-
UU 29130 belong to Western part of Orissa, crobial flora.
Padampur. Also this strain has been deposited in BGA • Fill the tanks with water up to a height of about 15
germplasm conservation centre at Indian Agricultural cm and add insecticide(10-15ml malathion, 50% EC
Research Institute, New Delhi .This strain is a region or endosulphan 30% EC) to prevent breeding of
specific stress compatible strain, therefore, this spe- mosquitoes and other insects. Mix the contents thor-
cies can be recommended for biofertilizer production oughly and allow to stand till the supernatant be-
by farmers in this region.A tested (rural oriented) comes clear.
method is described below which is recommended •Sprinkle 200 g of BGA culture on the water
for setting up large scale algal production farm in this surface(mother starter region specific BGA cultures
region. are available at Utkal university BGA germplasm
Mass production in cemented tanks conservation centre, Bhubaneswar)
Out of the different method recommended for the pro- • Under favorable conditions (temperature 300 C
duction of BGA, open air cement tank method is con- and above), the growth of blue-green algae will be
sidered to be easy and cost effective. The cement rapid and a thick algal mat is formed on the surface of
tanks are permanent structures and can be cleaned the water in about 10-15 days. At this stage, forma-
easily. On the other hand galvanized iron trays are tion of another BGA layer can be seen on the surface
very expensive, prone to rusting and difficult to clean. of the soil. During this period, add water periodically
Similarly polythene lined pits don’t last for more than to maintain the water level around 10 cm.
3-4 harvests and thus become costly. • Closely monitor the BGA coming up in the tanks
Production of BGA inoculum can be done in by periodically examining the algal growth using a
the following steps microscope. One can alternatively use the iodine test
• Construct cement tanks of size5m length,1.5m to differentiate between green and blue-green algae.
width and 0.3m depth in an open space. The inner The green algae turn dark violet or black in colour
walls and floor of the tank should be glazed smooth. with iodine.
Provide a water tap at about 25 cm height at one of • Alkaline conditions with pH around 8, appreciable
the broad sides and a drainage pipe fitted on the op- prevent contamination with green algae.
posite wall at the bottom. An overflow outlet is pro- • Stop adding water to the tanks only after a thick
vided at about 20 cm height above the drainage out- BGA mat is formed and allow the contents to dry
let. The length of the tanks can be manipulated but without draining the water.
width should not be increased. Provide a space of • When completely dry, the algal mat will form
about 1.0 m between the tanks for operational con- flakes which will separate out from rest of the soil.
venience. These flakes are collected, sun dried and packed in
• The four corners of the tank should be round. polythene bags.
• Spread 10 kg of soil and add 200 g of single super • Fill the tanks again with water, put fresh soil,
phosphate per tank. The soil should be loam and starter culture and super phosphate and repeat the
sandy loam and heavy type like clay. Light soil facili- process. Single harvest from a tank yields about 7-
tates formation of algal flakes which easily separate 10 kgs of soil based algal flakes.
• Instead of using the soil based starter culture, • Application of small quantity of phosphatic fertilizer
one can use laboratory grown liquid culture of rice after BGA inoculation accelerates the algal establish-
fields BGA to inoculate the tanks. Even the dominat- ment.
ing native BGA, directly collected from rice field can The above algal biofertilizer technology is rural
also be used. Recommendation for Field Applica- oriented technology for farmers resulting in low cost
tion production of rice. This is of particular significant to
• Broadcast the dried algal flakes on standing water the farmers of this region who are economically weak
at the rate of 10 to 20 kg per hectare ,one week after to invest on chemical Nitrogen fertilizer. Fields experi-
transplantation. The field should be kept water logged ment using algal inoculations at various location
for about ten days after inoculation to allow good showed promising results with respect to nitrogen
growth of BGA. saving and increased yield. Large scale production
• If nitrogen fertilizers are not being used, apply BGA of the soil based BGA biofertilizer has an income gen-
erating potential and can be taken as a profession for
the unemployed youths of this region.
REFERENCES
Green Algae
microscopic structure
of
Blue Green Algae
in order to gain a benefit of 15-25 kg N/ha. Where
the nitrogenous fertilizers are used, keep the basal
dose unchanged and reduce the subsequent two ap- Goyal,S.K.1993.Algal Biofertilizer for vital soil and free
plications by half. This will save on the chemical fer- Nitrogen.Proc.Indian Natl.Sci.Acad.B.59:295-302.
Naik,H.K.;Sahu,J.K.and Adhikary,S.P.1996.Blue Green algae of
tilizers without affecting the yield. rice fields of Orissa state 11.Growth and Nitrogen fixing
• Apply BGA at least for 3-4 consecutive seasons to potential.Phykos, 35(1&2):111-118.
have the advantage of cumulative effect. Roger,P.A.and Kulasooriya.S.A.1980.Blue Green algae and
• The sun dried BGA inoculums packed in polythene rice,I.R.R.I..,Los Banos,Manila,Phillipines.pp.1-112.
Sahu,J.K.;Naik,H.K.and Adhikary,S.P. Blue Green algae of rice
bags can be stored at room temperature for at least fields of Orissa state 1.Distributional pattern in different
3 years without loss in the viability. agroclimatic zones. Phykos ,35(1&2):93-110.
• Recommended pest control measures and other Venkataraman,G.S.1981.Blue Green algae for rice production,a
crop management practices generally do not inter- manual for its promotion:FAO field documentation no.2(RAS/75/
004),FAO, Rome.pp.102.
fere with the establishment and activity of the BGA in
the field. T.F.College , Bargarh
Cyanobacterial toxins are the naturally Despite their name, blue-green algae
produced poisons stored in the cells of are not algae at all. They are a type of photo-
certain species of cyanobacteria. These toxins synthetic bacteria, called ‘cyanobacteria’, that rely on
fall into various categories. Some are known to sunlight for energy.Blue-green algae are present in
attack the liver (hepatotoxins) or the nervous almost all aquatic ecosystems, including creeks, riv-
Navratna Info
system (neurotoxins); others simply irritate the ers, lakes and wetlands. Individual cells are quite small,
skin. These toxins are usually released into water so bluegreen algae can be present in a water body
when the cells rupture or die. scientists are more without being visible. However, as environmental con-
concerned about hepatotoxins than neurotoxins, ditions become just right, algae numbers can start to
because neurotoxins are not considered to be increase rapidlyand blooms, or scums, become easily
as widespread as hepatotoxins in water supplies. visible across the water surface. The blooms range in
Very few cyanobacterial toxins have actually been colour from dark green to yellowish–brown and de-
isolated and characterized to date. Better velop a paintlike consistency as they dry out around
methods of detection are being developed to the water’s edge. A blue pigment may also be seen as
help us learn more about them, they dry.