Seasonal changes of biochemical composition of green algae Ulva fasciata Delile, 1813 and Caulerpa racemosa Agardh, 1873 from coastal waters of Visakhapatnam, east coast of India

Biochemical constituents such as protein, carbohydrate, lipid and ash in the dry tissue of green algae Ulva fasciata and Caulerpa racemosa have been reported from coastal waters of Visakhapatnam during February, 2006 - January, 2008. The mean values of protein, carbohydrate, lipid and ash in U. fasciata were 25.15%, 60.28%, 9.15% and 5.41% respectively. The mean values of protein, carbohydrate, lipid and ash in C. racemosa were 26.52%, 53.02%, 10.88% and 9.58% respectively. The percentage composition of protein, lipid, carbohydrate and ash contents showed variations in their abundance in different seasons. Seasonally highest protein content (27.09%) was noticed in summer, carbohydrate (65.19%) in monsoon, lipid (12.12%) in post-monsoon and ash (12.53%) in summer in U. fasciata. The highest protein content (30.88%) was noticed in post-monsoon, carbohydrate (55.78%) in monsoon, lipid (12.91%) in monsoon and ash (15.34%) in summer in C. racemosa. The protein content in two seaweed species studied were almost similar, but carbohydrate content noticed in U. fasciata little higher than that of carbohydrate content in C. racemosa. Tsunami (2004) did not affect the biochemical constituents of U. fasciata and C. racemosa distributed along the coastal waters of Visakhapatnam.

Author(s): Yedukondala Rao P.*, Sudha Rani D., Naga Krishna Veni D. and Rukmini Sirisha I.

Abstract | PDF

Share This Article