Mehdi Mohammadi

Micro alga Tetraselmis chuii Butcher is one of the species that are considered to be important sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The aim of our experiment was to determine the effect of the light intensity and the water salinity on the growth and fatty acid composition of Tetraselmis chuii. There were significant correlation (P ≤ 0.05) between the cell density and light intensity and cell grow rate and light intensity, the correlation were r 2 =0.71; r 2 =0.74 correspondingly. The lowest concentration of the cell density was observed at the lowest light intensity and the highest salinity. Palmitic acid among the saturated fatty acid, oleic acid, among mono unsaturated fatty acid, alpha-linoleic acid among the PUFA, and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) among high unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA), had the highest percentage. Variance analyses showed that the light intensity exhibited a significant correlation (P ≤ 0.05) with PUFA, HUFA. However there was not significant correlation among light intensity and SFA, MUFA. This result showed that relationship between environment conditions and fatty acid composition in T. chuii was significant thus it can be used to produce specific profile of fatty acids in this strain.