In-Culture Selection and the Potential Effects of Changing Sex Ratios on the Reproductive Success of Multiannual Delayed Gametophytes of Saccharina latissima and Alaria esculenta

Abstract

Multiannual delayed gametophyte cultures can stay vegetative for years, while also having the ability to grow. This study aims to investigate whether male and female multiannual delayed gametophyte strains of the species Saccharina latissima and Alaria esculenta grow at different rates in culture. We furthermore assessed how changing sex ratios can affect the reproductive yields of these cultures. The results indicate that the reproductive yield of cultures declines with decreasing male:female ratios, a correlation that becomes especially apparent at higher culture densities for both species. Female gametophyte densities in particular affected the observed reproductive yield of the cultures, with S. latissima cultures showing a clear reproductive optimum (sporophytes·mL−1) at 0.013 mg·mL−1 DW female gametophyte biomass, while the reproductive success of A. esculenta peaked at a density of 0.025 mg·mL−1 DW of female gametophyte biomass, after which the reproductive yield started to decline in both species. The results show that the sex ratio of a gametophyte culture is an important biotic life cycle control, with higher amounts of female gametophyte biomass halting gametophyte reproduction. Understanding how these changing sex ratios in gametophyte cultures affect reproduction is especially important in the aquaculture of kelp, where reliable preforming cultures are key to long-term success.