Inhibitive effects of three compositae plants on Microcystis aeruginosa

Based on common phenomena of biochemical interaction between plants and microorganisms, the inhibitive effects of three common terrestrial compositae plants, namely Artemisia lavandulaefolia DC., Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq., and Kalimeris indica (L.) Sch.-Bip. on the blue algae Microcystis aeruginosa was studied. Live compositae plants are co-cultivated with algae in two different inoculation doses for 10 days in 5-pools incubators, in order to exclude the influence of bacteria and nutrients. The results show that Artemisia lavandulaefolia DC has the most inhibitive potential among the three plants as evidenced by the most drastic decrease in optical density (OD₆₈₀) of the algae. The inhibition rate is 93.3% (with initial inoculation dose of 2.0 × 10⁶ Cells/mL) and 89.3% (with initial inoculation dose of 4.0 × 10⁶ Cells/mL) respectively on the 10^th day of cultivation. The average inhibition rate during the later half of the experiment is 0.76 (with initial inoculation dose of 2.0 × 10⁶ Cells/mL) and 0.71 (with initial inoculation dose of 4.06106 Cells/mL), respectively. Logistic model analysis shows that compositae plants such as A. lavandulaefolia DC. causes the reduction of the habitat’s carrying capacity of algae. ANOVA analysis is used to determine the similarity and differences between every experimental group and an average inhibitive rate model is used to evaluate the inhibition effects. The results show that A. lavandulaefolia DC., which grow well in the aquatic environment, may have a great potential in controlling algae bloom in eutrophic water.