Assessment of Bacterial Cellulose from Komagataeibacter medellinensis Derived from Agricultural Waste and its Influence on Artemia Larval Culture

The production of bacterial cellulose is an innovative and sustainable biotechnological process that harnesses the extracellular metabolism of bacteria to convert diverse organic substrates into cellulose. These substrates may include sources of renewable raw materials such as agricultural residues. Their feasibility of acquisition provides them with applications in multiple industrial sectors, including the aquaculture industry. Thus, this research aimed to assess the potential of two agricultural residues to produce bacterial cellulose and identify their impact on the development of Artemia larvae. In this study, five treatments were evaluated: treatment T1 (control) based on standard culture medium with glucose as the carbon source, treatments T2 and T3 with banana peel extracts at different concentrations (10 and 25%, respectively) as alternative carbon sources, and treatments T4 and T5 with pineapple peel extracts at different concentrations (10 and 25%, respectively) as a second alternative carbon source. These were incubated for 7 days, during which productivity parameters were calculated. It was found that treatment T2 exhibited the highest values in productivity parameters, yield, and substrate conversion rate. This can be attributed to the fibrous composition of the material, which also proved to be an efficient substrate for the growth of Artemia larvae, which will be beneficial in the feeding of aquatic organisms.