Paper Title
Preliminary Assessment of Growth Rate and Thermo Tolerance of Microalgae Species Isolated from Kuwait Bay

Abstract
In the recent years there is a growing demand for microalgae due to its potential to fulfill ever increasing demand for food and fuel across the globe. Microalgae are known to produce high quantity protein rich feed supplement that can be utilized to cater the requirements of livestock industry. In addition, there is a growing interest in microalgae research to enhance the sources of renewable fuels. Kuwait is an arid country with harsh climatic conditions and limited fresh water supply that potentially hinders large-scale sustainable agriculture. Production of microalgae can serve various sectors including aquaculture and livestock industry and have the potential to reduce high dependence on imported feed sources. Climate change is predicted to have adverse impacts on agriculture and plant productivity. Hence, ensuring regional and global food security would require innovative approaches in research. Exploring marine microalgae resources from high temperature zones would be an attractive approach to identify organisms that can produce food and feed under extreme environments. Our research is focused on identifying microalgae that can produce high quality biomass at a rapid rate under extreme climatic conditions. The presentation is focused on brief overview of the application of microalgae in the arid regions and the results of our ongoing research will be discussed. Index Terms- Algal Biotechnology, Microalgae, Phytoplanktons, Secondary Metabolites