Growth and pigment content of Scenedesmus acutus as a function of light intensity and trophic status

Small-scale batch culture trials are frequently used to compare growth characteristics of microalgal species in different conditions. The accuracy of this approach depends on proper analysis of growth curves, which can be facilitated by automated data acquisition. Here we show an example of data treatment for a local strain of Scenedesmus acutus cultivated under photoautotrophy, heterotrophy and dim-light-assisted heterotrophy. Because photosynthetic pigments are valuable microalgal products (1), we also evaluated the effect of trophic status on pigment contents