**Thanks**

contents of *S. platensis* increased to 70.90 ± 2.37% at sunrise, and became 57 ± 0.69% at sunset, indicating that it tends to remarkably decrease compared to the daytime [59]. On the contrary, it was reported that CHO content was higher at the sunset time (33.81 ± 0.66%) than the sunrise time (19.48 ± 1.48%). Thus, it would be necessary to study the maintenance of protein content by application of phosphate-feed condition and LED illumination environment after the early

**2011 2012**

Protein (%) 40.08 37.77 36.98 47.64 46.48 40.62 32.26 n.d. n.d. 25.19 23.71 31.10 CHO (%) 36.81 28.04 20.06 25.16 28.52 37.47 47.35 n.d. n.d. 51.37 42.19 42.92 Lipid (%) 7.16 20.68 11.03 9.13 8.01 7.29 5.90 n.d. n.d. 4.43 5.77 8.17 Ash (%) 10.30 10.64 24.66 14.24 13.42 10.44 9.03 n.d. n.d. 11.31 24.24 12.98 Moisture (%) 5.66 2.87 7.27 3.83 3.56 4.18 5.47 n.d. n.d. 7.70 4.09 4.82

> 6.3 ± 2.0

80.7 ± 9.3

**Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar**

3.9 ± 0.6

91.1 ± 4.6

3.0 ± 0.1

64.6 ± 13.1

n.d. n.d. 1.7 ±

n.d. n.d. 25.9 ±

0.1

0.8

1.8 ± 0.6

24.5 ± 9.5

2.7 ± 0.1

55.1 ± 0.9

Year-round contents of phycocyanin *S. maxima* produced in the present study were 12–93 mg/g. Phycocyanin content (mg/g) of *S. maxima* was 28.5 ± 0.9 mg/g in April 2011 when culture was started. Then, it gradually decreased and the mean content became 14.8 ± 3.1 mg/g in June, which was the lowest. It showed a trend of increase from July, and the mean phycocyanin concentration of September 2012 was 91.1 ± 4.6 mg/g, which was the maximum of the year. Thereafter, phycocyanin contents again decreased and recorded 24.5 ± 9.5 mg/g in its mean value in February 2012. Chlorophyll-*a* content of *S. maxima* was 6.1 ± 0.1 mg/g in April 2011 when culture was started, and then the mean content was 6.3 ± 2.0 mg/g in August when radiation amount was relatively high, which was the highest of the year. Afterwards, chlorophyll-*a* concentration decreased to 1.8 ± 0.6 mg/g in February 2012, which was the lowest of the year. However, although content of chlorophyll-*a* was at the highest in the summer similar to the correlation between year-round contents of phycocyanin and amount of sunlight, there was no consistent year-round significance. In general, cell growth and phycocyanin production are closely related with light conditions [60, 61]. However, phycocyanin content was the highest in September 2011 when light conditions were the best in the present study, though there was no consistent significance throughout the year. Chlorophyll-*a* contents showed 6.3 ± 2.0 mg/g in August 2011, the maximum value, and 1.7 ± 0.1 mg/g in January 2012, the minimum value. It has been reported that as the light energy that microalgae received increased, chlorophyll contents also significantly increased [62], and the present study also showed the highest chlorophyll-*a* content in August when radiation amount was relatively high. Despite the significance of monthly pigment contents, however, there was no

fall when temperature of culture medium and amount of sunlight decline.

Chlorophyll a (mg/g)

76 Cyanobacteria

Phycocyanin (mg/g)

n.d.: not determined.

6.1 ± 0.1

28.5 ± 0.9

4.2 ± 0.1

28.7 ± 8.5

3.3 ± 1.6

14.8 ± 3.1

**Table 4.** Results of biochemical analysis of dry powder of *S. maxima*.

5.6 ± 1.8

53.5 ± 11.6

constant year-round significance between pigments and amount of sunlight.

We would like to thank the staffs of the Research Group of Integrated Use of Marine Biomass of Jeju International Marine Science Center in Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), who supported and collected the annual data. Our research activities were strongly supported by the KIOST and Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries.
