Abstract

  Seasonal variation in agar yield and some agar physical and chemical properties and biochemical composition of all studied species were examined in different periods 2014 to 2016. The maximum agar yields of all studied species were recorded during the winter and minimum values were obtained during the summer. Agar yield of H. musciformis varied from a minimum of 17.80% (dry wt) in May, to a maximum value of 30% in October while that of H. pannosa varied from a minimum of 18.60% (dry wt) at October, to a maximum of 35.80% at January and the yield of agar in H. valentiae varied from a minimum of 20.80% (dry wt) in April, to a maximum value of 35% in October like the H. musciformis. The maximum agar gel strength was recorded in H. valentiae (130 g/cm2) as compared to other species (H. musciformis and H. pannosa). Gel density, viscosity, temperature and melting temperature showed significant seasonal variation for all three studied seaweed species. Agar yield and quality of all three species were within the range of accepted commercial values. An intensive spectroscopic FTIR technique used to identify the frequency of functional groups alcohols, amines and alkanes (O-H, N-H, C-H), alkynes and nitriles (C≡C, C≡N), carbonyl amide, nitro methane and aromatic (C = O, N = O), alkane (C-C), sulfoxides (S = O), alkene (C−H) and alkyl halide (C-Cl) in all three species of Hypnea (H. musciformis, H. pannosa, H. valentiae). The carbohydrate content was in the range of 20 - 30% for all studied species while the ash content was in the range of 10 - 20%. The results indicated that all three studied species can be considered as a good aspirant for commercial agar use.

Keywords: Agar; Red Seaweed; FTIR; Gel Properties; Karachi Coast

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Citation

Citation: Rashida Qari and Saima Haider. “Biochemical Analysis, Yield of Agar and its Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Marine Red Seaweeds of Hypnea musciformis (Wulfen) J. V. Lamouroux, Hypnea pannosa J. Agardh, Hypnea valentiae (Turner) Montagne from Karachi Coast".Acta Scientific Microbiology 3.6 (2020): 34-44.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Rashida Qari and Saima Haider. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.