Madalena C. Mendes 1,2, Andreína Azevedo 1, Andreia Rego1, Cristina Paulino 2, Inês Oliveira 1, Maria Rosário Domingues 3, Margarida Martins1, Helena Abreu 1
1 ALGAplus, Produção e Comercialização de Algas e seus derivados Lda. PCI-Via do Conhecimento, 3830-352 Ílhavo, Portugal
2 GreenCoLab—Associação Oceano Verde, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
3 Centro de Espectrometria de Massa, Departamento de Química & QOPNA, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro
ALGAplus Ltd. is the European pioneer farming year-round organic certified Atlantic Nori species (Porphyra umbilicalis and P. dioica), for food and cosmetic markets, using a sustainable IMTA system. Our biobank holds around 30 Porphyra spp. strains since 2014, and counting, since novel strains from Northern Portugal populations are being collected to increase the genetic pool for future characterization, selection and improvement of market value. The genetic validation of all Atlantic Nori strains in production has been performed and is an ongoing work in partnership with GreenCoLab.
The commercial production of conchocelis holds potential as a new ingredient for the food, nutraceutical and cosmetics sector; and providing “seed” for emerging Atlantic Nori farmers. When compared to blade production, conchocelis have a shorter production cycle, manipulation is easier and they are less exposed to variable abiotic factors. Additionally, targeted enriched biomass can be achieved in controlled conditions, as pigments and lipids for distinct applications, which will be validated in the framework of the project Algaesolutions (PT 2020).
Up to now, the conchocelis production at ALGAplus surpasses the capacity of blade production, creating an opportunity to use the excessive conchocelis biomass as a final product. The company has validated the industrial production and market acceptability of conchocelis in indoor photobioreactors, yielding a daily average growth of 0.64 g.l-1 corresponding to 7% (RGR). This year, we expect to produce 300kg fw with a potential to increase depending on market demand.