Academician Zheng Mianping (1995, 1999) of the Research and Development Center for Salt Lake and Hot Water Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, pointed out that salt lakes are an extreme type of lake, representing a unique ecological environment for both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Due to their high salt content, exceeding the salt tolerance of most biological populations, most organisms find it difficult to survive. However, in this extreme high-salinity environment, some species, unlike the majority of their populations, are able to adapt and thrive in salt lakes (salt fields); these organisms are called halophytes. Furthermore, as the salinity of salt lake water increases, the number of halophyte species becomes increasingly scarce. Those halophytes that can adapt to high (hyper)salinity, lacking natural predators, proliferate and flourish, and under suitable conditions, their reproductive range can extend to the entire salt lake (salt field).
Academician Zheng Mianping (1999) believes that the so-called "salt lake agriculture" is: "Salt lakes and their ecological environment can be developed into a new type of agriculture. It is both a type of aquaculture in saline waters and closely related to the salt-tolerant biota around the saline waters, thus constituting a new field of aquaculture-agriculture research and development. However, it still has the basic attributes of agricultural production." "Salt lakes are not only inorganic salt production areas, but also a new type of 'farmland': they can be used not only for catching and cultivating new forms of crops such as salt algae, brine shrimp, spirulina, certain salt-tolerant fish species and birds, but also for applying the special mechanisms of salt lake bacteria to industry and agriculture, and can also be used for planting along the lake edge." Salt-tolerant crops represent a new field for humans to extract protein, food coloring, fat, and various industrial and scientific materials. The renowned scientist Qian Xuesen, in a letter to Academician Zheng Mianping, stated: "Salt lake agriculture differs from general agriculture; it utilizes the ecological environment and sunlight of salt lakes to produce commodities through biological processes. It is a knowledge-intensive industry combining agriculture, industry, trade, and modern technology." "Salt lake agriculture is an industry of the 21st century."
Currently, the most practically significant salt lake organisms for "saltwater aquaculture" include Dunaliella salina, Artemia filamentosa, Spirulina, rotifers, halophilic bacteria, and alkaliophilic bacteria.
Dunaliella sp.: Belonging to the salt-tolerant or halophilic genus Dunaliella, it is a eukaryotic algae. Dunaliella salina contains up to 8%–10% β-carotene (both dry weight), and is rich in approximately 30% glycerol and 30%–40% protein, as well as fatty acids, chlorophyll, and tetraene oils, making it an important economic algae and a new type of "crop." In particular, its β-carotene is a source of vitamin A, possessing high nutritional value. Clinical trials have shown its anti-cancer and cancer-treating effects, and its price ranges from $300 to $1500 per kilogram. Currently, it is widely used abroad in medicine and in foods such as margarine, cheese, beverages, bread, and ice cream. It is also used as a raw material in cosmetics, providing moisturizing and anti-aging effects for the skin. Other products of Dunaliella salina are used in the chemical, light industry, and aquaculture sectors. For example, its algal residue contains various amino acids and proteins, making it a high-quality livestock feed. Its ecological characteristics are: ① It can survive in salinity ranging from 20‰ to 390‰ (Note: the salinity of the Bohai Sea is 23‰ to 31‰), but its cells rupture and die below 2‰ salinity. Its optimal salinity for reproduction is 120‰, and the optimal salinity for β-carotene growth is 150‰. ② It is a single-celled algae with high light energy conversion rate and rapid growth and reproduction. Under suitable conditions, it can reproduce dozens of generations per day. When cultivated, the harvesting cycle can be as long as 1 week (mechanized intensive cultivation at Mi-CrobioResources InC. in the United States) to 3-5 weeks (extensive cultivation at Western Biotechnology LiMit-ed in Australia), which is much higher than the yield of general crops. ③ Dunaliella salina is a photosynthetic plant. Its energy comes from sunlight, and its nutrients are CO2 and a small amount of N and P, requiring much less fertilizer than general crops. ④ Dunaliella salina is easy to control through bioengineering and to induce new varieties. ⑤ Dunaliella salina communities have obvious seasonal variations. In summer, when the water temperature is high, the natural community is most abundant. However, red D. Salina and pink D. Parva generally gather on the surface of the brine, while green D. Viridis often gather on the surface of the bottom brine or bottom sediment. Academician Zheng Mianping (1999) stated, "Currently, besides Jilantai Salt Lake, pilot-scale trials of Dunaliella salina cultivation and β-carotene extraction have been conducted in Zhongquanzi Salt Lake in Xinjiang, and small-scale trial production has been carried out on Hainan Island. However, none of these have formed a large-scale industry, and there is a considerable gap in technology and management compared to advanced countries."
Details
Product name: Dunaliella Salina 98%
Plant source:all
Specification: 98%
Test Method:HPLC
Appearance:orange powder
Shelf life:24 months
Origin :shaanxi,china
State:power
According to Academician Zheng Mianping (1995), Dunaliella salina was first discovered more than 150 years ago in salt lakes along the Mediterranean coast. It wasn't until the late 1970s and early 1980s that countries with many salt lakes, such as Israel, the United States, Australia, the former Soviet Union, and Chile, successively conducted research in bioengineering, water chemistry, and geological ecology with the goal of commercial development, investing heavily in preliminary research. The Australian government invested over US$3.5 million in research between 1984 and 1986, and in 1987 built a pilot plant with an annual production capacity of 5 tons, producing 30% β-carotene oil, priced at approximately US$1,000 per kilogram. They also sold dried algae directly. According to a 1995 report, the company's annual output value reached US$25 million. Currently, Australia, the United States, and Israel have all reached the practical commercialization stage, forming a considerable production scale.
Artemia: Also known as brine shrimp. It belongs to the phylum Arthropoda, class Crustacea, subclass Branchiopoda, order Anostracods. Artemia has high nutritional value; the dry weight of adult Artemia contains 57%–60% protein and about 18% fat, as well as various amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, etc., especially EPA and minerals necessary for the growth of fish, shrimp, and crabs. It can act as a gonadal development hormone and disease-resistant carrier, promoting early maturity in fish and shrimp, thus becoming one of the highest quality feeds for shrimp, crab larvae, and high-end fish. Feeding juvenile shrimp with Artemia can increase shrimp production by 30%. Statistics show that about 85% of farmed marine shrimp and fish are fed with Artemia. The global demand for shrimp is huge; in 1988, the total global shrimp production reached 450,000 tons, with a value of US$2.5 billion. The key to the development of shrimp farming lies in solving the problem of sourcing live bait, brine shrimp, for the shrimp larvae. Currently, the global supply of brine shrimp falls short of demand, with each ton of brine shrimp eggs (70%–80% hatching rate) costing $40,000–50,000. Its ecological characteristics are: ① Highly adaptable and widely distributed, found in salt lakes and salt pans (hyperbriated areas) of varying hydrochemical types worldwide, except for the polar regions. It typically grows in salinity ranges from 5% to 22%, with a growth temperature of 15℃–35℃, the optimal temperature being around 25℃. However, it can also grow above 0℃ in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region. Depending on the environment, brine shrimp can be oviparous or viviparous. Its eggs possess a structure resistant to high salinity and low temperatures, and can still hatch under suitable conditions after being stored for several years under harsh conditions. ② Short reproductive cycle and rapid growth. Under suitable conditions, brine shrimp are viviparous, with each adult producing 40–120 larvae approximately every 4 days. From larvae to adults, it takes only two weeks. During this period, the brine shrimp grows 20 times in size and 500 times in weight, and each shrimp can live for 3-6 months. ③ They are non-filter feeders, consuming various algae and organic debris, making artificial breeding relatively inexpensive. Surveys show that the quality of brine shrimp eggs from Gahai Lake in Qinghai is among the best in the world, and the brine shrimp from Xinjiang salt lakes have a promising future. There are as many as 90-100 brine shrimp-producing salt lakes of varying sizes in Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia (Ren Mulian et al., 1996). Brine shrimp are also known as "water gold," with an annual demand of 20 million tons in the domestic market alone. Due to the ease of harvesting and high profits, once a location is discovered, the fish are often overfished, leading to incidents of scrambling and injuries, which urgently need to be addressed.
Spirulina: Belonging to the class Cyanobacteria, order Oscillatiformes, family Oscillatiaceae, it is one of the oldest living organisms on Earth, with a history of at least 3.5 billion years. Ecological characteristics of Spirulina: ① It is a multicellular organism with a unique spiral-shaped filamentous structure. ② It is bluish-green in color, resulting from yellow and red carotenoids. ③ It is an algae with a light energy conversion rate as high as 18%–24%. Due to its phycoxanthin (PC) efficiently capturing solar photons and transferring them to chlorophyll a (Chl.a), it exhibits an extremely high photosynthetic rate, with light energy 6–8 times higher than that of grain crops. It thrives in warm, well-lit aquatic environments, with the optimal growth temperature approaching 35℃. Its strong resistance to ultraviolet radiation allows for the cultivation of sterile Spirulina. ④ It is highly adaptable, being a euryhaline planktonic organism that can grow in water environments with varying salinity, from high-salinity water and seawater to freshwater. It can be broadly classified into "freshwater" and "saltwater" types, with the latter being more commonly cultivated in large quantities. ⑤ The cultivation technique is relatively simple, with a high yield. Its filamentous cell line proliferates through secondary division, dividing into small filamentous bodies that gradually grow longer and repeat the process. It can grow in saline-alkali lakes or salt lakes, and can also be produced in factories. Its protein production rate per unit area is 20 times higher than that of soybeans. Nutritional value of Spirulina: This algae has extremely thin and soft cell walls, and its nucleus is not obvious, making it easily absorbed by the human body. It contains more abundant and balanced high-quality protein, as well as various amino acids, chlorophyll, linolenic acid, minerals, and carotene than any other food. Its protein content, with a dry weight of 58%–70%, is equivalent to 5 times that of soybeans, 10 times that of rice, 5 times that of pork, and 3 times that of fish. Furthermore, its protein is similar to human blood protein and is easily absorbed by humans and animals, with a digestibility rate of up to 95%. The nutritional composition of 1 kg of spirulina is equivalent to the total nutrition of 100 kg of various vegetables. In addition, spirulina contains a large amount of anti-aging superoxide dismutase and 8 essential amino acids that humans cannot synthesize themselves.
Halophilic Bacteria (Purple Membrane): Salt lakes and saline-alkali lakes also contain a large number of various halophilic, alkaliophilic, or halophilic-alkali-loving bacteria of significant scientific and practical importance. These microorganisms are essentially adaptations to the changing high-salt (alkali) environment of lakes during their evolution from freshwater to saline water, formed through natural selection and self-modification over a long geological period. They have thus developed stable halophilic, halophilic-alkali-loving, or alkaliophilic structures, properties, and genetic makeup. Due to the special structure and mechanisms of these bacteria, in-depth research is expected to yield significant and far-reaching practical applications in industrial and agricultural production. Halophilic and alkaliphilic bacteria can be used as special gene banks to create new salt- or salt-tolerant biological varieties. Currently, some alkaliphilic bacteria are already being used in industrial production; for example, alkaline protease is being produced both domestically and internationally. The purple membrane in halophilic bacteria possesses a light-energy conversion function-a light-driven proton pump (also known as an H+ pump). This is a novel light energy conversion membrane, much simpler than chlorophyll photosynthesis, and is the simplest known organic light energy conversion system to date. If its light energy conversion characteristics can be utilized or simulated by humans, it could potentially become an ideal material for future bio-solar cells and provide ideal experimental materials for studying life phenomena such as visual processes, energy transfer, and cell membrane transport.
Rotifers: Lower organisms in salt lakes. Twelve saline rotifer species have been discovered in my country's salt lakes, with the highest salt tolerance reaching 165 g/L. Rotifers are also excellent live food for shrimp, turtles, and crabs; one gram of rotifer eggs can fetch up to 600 yuan. Another example is the known cyanobacteria, *Ahpan-othe-Cehalophyti Ce*, which, according to analysis, contains 43%–76% crude protein and 23 amino acids, 0.67%–2.76% carotene, 8 fatty acids, and abundant phycocyanin. This microalgae is characterized by rapid growth, low cost, high salt tolerance, and resistance to contamination by other microorganisms in open culture, making it a promising algae. *Nyctaginus mongolica*, widely distributed in semi-arid to arid regions with weakly saline to highly saline conditions, has a salt tolerance of 74.5‰, second only to Artemia and Dunaliella salina. Its rapid reproduction has led to its widespread use as a high-quality live feed for fish and shrimp (He Zhihui et al., 1990).
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