VARIATION OF BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF EIGHTEEN MARINE MACROALGAE COLLECTED FROM OKHA COAST, GULF OF KUTCH, INDIA

Eighteen species of marine macroalgae belonging to Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta were surveyed, collected from Okha coast, Gulf of Kutch, India and compared for their biochemical composition. The macroalgae showed varied quantities of biochemical constituents like total carbohydrate, total protein, amino acid, phenol and total lipid. The concentration of carbohydrate was higher in most of the species of Chlorophyta followed by Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta, while high amount of amino acid was found in the species belonged to Rhodophyta as compared to Phaeophyta and Chlorophyta. The protein content was rich in the sequence of members belonged to Rhodophyta> Chlorophyta> Phaeophyta, in contrast, lipid content was observed in the sequence of members belonged to Phaeophyta> Chlorophyta> Rhodophyta. However, phenol concentration was in inverse to carbohydrate in studied marine macroalgae. The carbohydrate, amino acid, protein, lipid and phenol content were determined in the range of 16-45%, 9-20%, 10-35%, 0.4-14% and 834% of the fresh weight, respectively. In addition, significant individual differences of the biochemical parameters were recorded in all tested marine alga and the results were also substantiated with the findings of earlier reports.