February
2005

SPIRULINA AT FAZENDA TAMANDUA

Fascinated by the spirulina's history and its huge potential for human and animal health, for a long time I wanted to test its production at Fazenda Tamandua.

Introduced to Spirulina through Mr. Denis von der Weid restless work, from NGO Antenna Technologies at Geneve, Switzerland, we learned with him the basics info about this cyanobacteria culture.

We always want to offer to our trainees works that might add value as much for the trainee as for the Farm itself, and when we got Rebecca Schlottau request, I suggested her to develop this task.

The bet was correct: thanks to Rebecca's rational and analitical skills, we succeeded, in a very short period of time, to elaborate a production system suitable to our climate, and at the same time, to educate two young Farm´s colaborators to continue properly this production.

The first tests were with calf just after the separating moment from their mothers, always working with a cientific protocol, elaborated by Prof. Fernando Borja dos Santos, from Veterinarian School, UFCG, with encouraging results that will be published later. The microbiologic analisys took a long time but proved that the spirulina made in Fazenda Tamandua has high quality.

This is a successful experience for a remarkable food that needs to be available to human nutrition, after fullfiling the actual legal demands.

Next, please read Rebecca'a statement as well as her interesting text explaining spirulina's concept and the richness of its uses and properties.

PL

The Concept: What is Spirulina?

The wise men call it “Cyanobacteria Arthrospira platensis” and say that it is a blue alga, but we see it green and through the microscope it looks like a “spring”; we call it SPIRULINA.

Less than 0.3 mm long, it is almost invisible to the naked eye, but it colors the water in which it lives green. It lives by photosynthesis, just like plants, but it is different from them, because it has, in addition to chlorophyll, the pigments carotenoid and phycocyanin, thus using almost the whole of the solar spectrum. In order to develop, it needs water, light, heat and the essential elements for plant life: carbon, nitrate and minerals, such as phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and iron. Its reproduction is asexual and takes place by means of division of its filaments. 

The spirulina’s nutritional qualities have been known for thousands of years; the Aztecs already collected spirulina from alkaline lakes on the Mexican plateau.

In Africa, it is present in temporary lakes and lagoons which are salt and alkaline.

In Chad, a country in Central Africa, women have always collected spirulina by filtering the water of the lakes. The mass of this microscopic alga is then concentrated into a deep green purée, which is dried in the sun, taking the form of biscuits, which keep very well. The spirulina is grated and added to everyday food, to which it adds an important nutritious value.

 

Spirulina is much sought after and is sold in markets under the name of “DIHÉ”; and it feeds an intense caravan traffic, because different peoples know that it is an essential supplement to their food.

In the West, there has only recently been research into spirulina. Nowadays, spirulina is industrially produced in several countries, such as China, Thailand, India, and especially in the USA, where it is much sought after as a food supplement and therefore enjoys a high price. 

Spirulina´s Nutritional Properties

Proteins: 65 % by weight (norm: >50)

VITAMINS

Beta-carotene = 1400 mg/kg = 2330 International Units (I.U.)
E (Tocopherol) = 100 mg/kg
B1 (Thiamine) = 35 mg/kg
B2 (Riboflavin) = 40 mg/kg
B3 or PP (Niacin) = 140 mg/kg
B5 (Pantothenic acid) = 1 mg/kg
B8 or H (Biotin) = 0.05 mg/kg
B12 (Cobalamine) = 3.2 mg/kg (this vitamin B12 might not be totally assimilated by the body)
Inositol = 640 mg/kg
K (Phylloquinone) = 20 mg/kg






 

AMINO ACIDS

Alanine = 47 g/kg
Arginine = 43 g/kg
Aspartic acid = 61 g/kg
Cystine = 6 g/kg
Glutamic acid = 91 g/kg
Glycine = 32 g/kg
Histidine = 10 g/kg
Isoleucine = 35 g/kg
Leucine = 54 g/kg
Lysine = 29 g/kg
Methionine = 14 g/kg
Phenylalanine = 28 g/kg
Proline = 27 g/kg
Serine =32 g/kg
Threonine = 32 g/kg
Tryptophane 9 g/kg
Tyrosine= 30 g/kg
Valine= 40 g/kg

MINERALS

Chrome = 3 mg/kg
Calcium = 10000 mg/kg
Copper = 12 mg/kg
Iron = 1800 mg/kg
Magnesium = 4000 mg/kg
Manganese = 50 mg/kg
Phosphorus = 8000 mg/kg
Potassium = 14000 mg/kg
Sodium = 9000 mg/kg
Zinc = 30 mg/kg

PIGMENTS

Phycocyanin = 150 g/kg
Chlorophyll = 11 g/kg
Carotenoids= 3.7 g/kg (including beta-carotene) = 1.4 g/kg)

ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS

Linoleic acid  = 8 g/kg
Gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) = 10 g/kg

ENZYMES
Superoxide-dismutase = 1.5 million units / kg

Utilization

Cultivation

The conditions required by spirulina in order to develop are found in nature, but they can be created artificially. A medium resembling salt lakes can be made with chemical or natural products. It is necessary to have movement in the water. This is done in nature by pink flamingos of the “minor” species, which feed in alkaline lakes; a flock of 100,000 birds eats 30 tons per day, and flocks of over one million birds have been counted. In the lakes of the Rift Valley, the amount of algae is variable and they can disappear almost overnight. The essential elements for the natural development of spirulina are available from the excrement dropped by the flamingos in those lakes.

Standard production tank (10 sq.m.)
at Fazenda Tamanduá - Sta.Terezinha/PB

Front view of three out of the four tanks
at Fazenda Tamanduá.