The Effect of Adding Raw Organic Honey on the Population Growth of P. oklahomense

Abstract

There has been a recent growth in the use of cleaner burning fuels that are beneficial to the environment.  Algae has emerged with promising potential simply because of the organisms ability to grow at an accelerated rate.  In this investigation, we are analyzing the effects of organic honey on growth on P. oklahomense, a eukaryote. Honey contains mostly glycolic acid, which we hypothesized will provide an increase in cell count for the microalgae. To test this hypothesis, we added different amounts of honey to our photobioreactor, and used a hemocytometer to measure the amount of cell growth. Our results showed that honey, because of its high amounts of glycolic acid, served as a successful stimulant in algae growth, and our hypothesis was supported. Even though our hypothesis is supported, we don’t recommend using honey to grow algae as there are other less-expensive options.