Microbial characterization of raw biomasses of Alaria esculenta, Chlorella vulgaris, Lemna minor

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the types of microorganisms present in Alaria esculenta, Chlorella vulgaris, and Lemna minor as well as to characterize the microbial communities in their raw biomasses. The different raw biomass samples were assigned to a total of 35 and 32 classes, respectively, representing different bacterial and fungal phyla. The most common bacterial genera in all raw biomasses were Acinetobacter (11.68%) and Sphingobacterium (5.72%). Cyanobacteria was found to be the most abundant phylum (59.66%) in Chlorella vulgaris, followed by Lemna minor (type 2) (42.08%), Lemna minor (type 1) (35.97%), and Alaria esculenta (type 1) (26.07%). The most prevalent fungal genera in all raw biomasses were Mycosphaerella (31.64%), Cladosporium (5.08%) and Alternaria (3.63%), while Ascomycota was the most abundant phylum (89.04%) in Lemna minor (type 2), followed by Alaria esculenta (type 1) (80.0%), Lemna minor (type 1) (78.84%) and Chlorella vulgaris (67.14%). In addition, a taxonomic comparison was carried out to assess the variations in the microbiota across all samples. Chl. vulgaris and L. minor (type 2) exhibit a high prokaryotic and fungal composition according to the analyses in comparison to the others. Seven and six genera (>1%) dominated the bacterial and fungal communities, respectively, in all the samples according to the next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis. The development of effective measures to ensure the quality and safety of these aquaculture plants for consumption, as well as the improvement of their cultivation, processing, and storage will be greatly aided by these findings.