Effects of rice and rye straw extracts on the growth of a cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa

This study investigated the effect of extracts with time (a range of extraction periods: 0.2 days to maximum 150 days) of rice and rye straw on the growth of Microcystis aeruginosa (a cyanobacterium). The effect was assessed by an effective concentration 50 (EC50) of extracts measured by a carbon (C) content, when 50% normalized maximum growth yield (50% inhibition effect) of M. aeruginosa occurred. We found that extracts of rice and rye straw inhibited the growth of M. aeruginosa. Extracts from the earliest incubation phase (0.2 days) for rice straw and the 40-day extract for rye straw showed the most inhibitive EC50 value of 28.0 mg C L−1 and 18.9 mg C L−1, respectively. The inhibition effect was positively related to the extraction period of the rye straw, but inversely of the rice straw. Our results suggested that the long-term decomposition of extracts during straw extraction be linked with the formation of allelochemicals. These results provided information on how allelochemicals derived from agricultural by-products affect algal growth in aquatic ecosystems.