Vitamin C content of some macroalgae of Visakhapatnam, east coast of India

Abstract

<span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" color:black;mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-IN">Vitamin C is analysed on monthly samples of 24 species of macroalgae collected for one year from the intertidal habitats of Visakhapatnam coast. Chlorophyll-a and carbohydrate are also analysed. In general, the algae belonging to Chlorophyceae and Phaeophyceae have higher annual mean contents of the vitamin (360 and 352 <span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:hiddenhorzocr;color:black;="" mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-IN">μg/g <span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:en-in;="" mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-IN">respectively) than Rhodophyceae (271 <span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:hiddenhorzocr;="" color:black;mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-IN">μg/g). <span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" color:black;mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-IN">The species which are rich in vitamin C are <i>Padina tetrastomatica </i>(513 <span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: " times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:hiddenhorzocr;color:black;mso-ansi-language:="" en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-IN">μg/g), <i><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:en-in;="" mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-IN">Spongomorpha</span></i><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:en-in;="" mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-IN"> <i>indica </i>(510) and <i>Chaetomorpha antennina </i>(488). The vitamin C maxima was observed during summer for Chlorophyceae and Phaeophyceae and during winter for Rhodophyceae. The vitamin C showed significant positive relationship with chlorophyll - <i>a </i>in Rhodophyceae and Chlorophyceae. It also showed a significant positive relationship with carbohydrate content of the latter. The distribution of vitamin C is associated with the morphogenetically important vegetative and reproductive phases indicating its key role in metabolic function.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span>