Little knowledge of spirulina

Growth Characteristics of Spirulina

Spirulina belongs to trematode, cyanophyta, which is a lower plant. Its cells, like bacteria, have no nucleus, so it is also known as cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria is a unicellular organism with no true nucleus, but the nuclear substance contained in the center of its cell is granular or reticular, and the chromatin and pigment of cyanobacteria are evenly distributed in the cytoplasm. Cyanobacteria has no nuclear membrane and nucleolus, but it has nuclear function, so it is called prokaryote (or nucleophile). Plasmid, a circular DNA in cyanobacteria, plays the role of carrier in genetic engineering. Therefore, cyanobacteria are "prokaryotes". It is the earliest living creature that can carry out photosynthesis on the earth and has a history of 3.5 billion years. It grows in water and its shape is screw-shaped under a microscope. It is named Spirulina.

As a 3.5 billion-year-old health product, spirulina has abundant and balanced nutrients and has excellent performance in disease prevention.

Growth environment requirements

1. Temperature

 Spirulina is a kind of algae that likes high temperature. The suitable growth temperature is 25-35ºC. When the temperature is lower than 20ºC, the growth is slow. The tolerable minimum temperature is 5C and the maximum temperature is 45ºC. The combination of strong light and high temperature (above 40ºC) will cause spirochetes to die quickly.

2. pH value

Spirulina is suitable for growth in alkaline environment and has strong adaptability to alkaline environment. The suitable pH is 8.3-10.3, and the tolerable pH is 7.0-12. In addition, moderate salinity is also an important growth condition for Spirulina.

3. Illumination

Spirulina, like other plants, can use sunlight, carbon dioxide and other minerals to synthesize organic substances while releasing oxygen for photosynthesis. Light intensity determines the growth rate of spirulina.

4. Nutrition

The supply of carbon source is most important to the growth of spirulina. At the same time, sodium bicarbonate is also beneficial to the growth of spirulina. Nitrogen is an important element that constitutes proteins in living organisms.

Distribution of Spirulina

However, spirulina has very strict requirements for growth conditions. Light, temperature and water quality must be under specific conditions. There are more than 30,000 lakes in the world: some are freshwater lakes and some are saltwater lakes, but there are quite a few alkaline lakes. Alkaline water lakes (PH > 8.6) that meet the growth of spirulina are even rarer. Only three lakes in the world can meet this standard: the first is Texcoco Lake in Mexico, the second is Chad Lake in Africa, and the third is Chenghai Lake in China.

Lake Chad has shrunk by more than 90% in just over 40 years. In addition to natural factors such as severe drought, it is also due to factors such as deforestation, large-scale irrigation and the construction of reservoirs on rivers flowing into Lake Chad. The lake has never realized spirulina industrialization.

Lake Tex-coco, located in the center of the Mexico Basin, is a remnant of ancient lakes. The evaporation capacity of the lake is 3 times as much as that of the water entering the lake, and the water storage capacity is decreasing year by year, resulting in a drop in output.

The natural spirulina in Lake Chad cannot be mass produced, and the spirulina industry in Lake Te-coco is facing decline. The natural spirulina in Lake Chenghai of Lijiang, represented by Green A, has become the last rare treasure.

Chenghai Lake is the only natural origin of spirulina in China. Located in the middle of Yongsheng County, Lijiang City, Yunnan Province, Chenghai Lake is about 20 kilometers long with an average width of about 4 kilometers. It runs from north to south with a maximum depth of 36.9 meters and an altitude of 1503 meters. It has a water storage capacity of 1.987 billion cubic meters and a lake surface area of about 77.2 square kilometers. It is recognized as one of the few "clean lands" in the world. To the north of Chenghai Lake is Lugu Lake, where Mosuo people live. Mosuo people still retain the characteristics of matriarchal society and are the only ones left in the world today. In the northwest is Diqing Plateau, the paradise of human dreams-"Shangri-La". In the west is Lijiang Ancient City and Tiger Leaping Gorge, the world's first canyon. In the east and south is Jinsha River. Due to the unique conditions, it belongs to subtropical climate type, and the climate, sunshine, temperature and water quality of Chenghai Lake are quite suitable for spirulina production. Therefore, the high-quality spirulina bred by Chenghai Lake is of the highest quality in the country and even in the world.