In-vitro anti-bacterial activity, nutritional, physico-chemical and organoleptic evaluation: Sargassum sps- Tropical Brown Seaweeds

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-5090285/v1

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In-vitro anti-bacterial activity, nutritional, physico-chemical and organoleptic evaluation: Sargassum sps- Tropical Brown Seaweeds

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5090285/v1

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Seaweeds and their metabolites finds application as a medicine, nutraceutical and as a food supplement due its antimicrobial properties and protection from environmental stressors. With this background, the study was conducted to explore the anti-microbial activity of Indian brown seaweed- Sargassum sps viz. S.polycystum, S. tenerrimum and S.cinctum collected from the ocean of Gulf of Mannar (Mandapam coast). S. tenerrimum was observed to have higher anti-microbial activity which was evident from the higher zone of inhibition at a concentration 200 µg/disc against Staphylococcus aureus (12.5mm), Bacillus cereus (11 mm), E coli (14 mm) and Pseudomonas aeroginosa (12 mm). S. tenerrimum recorded highest swelling (10.08^c ± 0.88), water retention (8.99 ± 1.25) and oil retention capacity (1.01 ± 0.12), besides having high protein (13.42 ± 0.33), low fat (1.30 ± 0.30) and high dietary fibre (64.97 ± 4.71) and ash (30.76 ± 0.38) compared to the other two species. Organoleptic assessment also revealed S.tenerrimum as the choice among the three species of Sargassum. The results reveal the potential scope of utilization of S. tenerrimum as anti-microbial and nutritive enrichment in functional meat products.

Sargassum

Brown Seaweeds

Invitro-antibacterial

Physico-chemical

Nutritional and Organoleptic

Marine algae have been extensively used as medicine for a long time. In recent times, marine algae gain attraction as nutraceutical and new drug development apart from consumption as food. Sea weeds or marine algae are potential resource of bioactive metabolites possessing a wide scope in developing new pharmaceutical agents (Chanda et al. 2010). Brown algae are of great interest due to their potential ability to produce a variety of secondary metabolites such as fucoxanthin, phenolic compounds, sulphated polysaccharide, terpenoids, bromophenols which can benefit human health (Gupta and Abu-Ghannam 2011; Balboa et al. 2013). These secondary metabolites impart protective mechanisms for the seaweeds to thrive in the extreme environmental stressors (Jimenez-Escrig et al. 2001) without any serious structural and photodynamic damage during metabolism.

Seaweeds provide for an excellent source of bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, dietary fibre, protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals (Fleurence 1999; Bhaskar and Miyashita, 2005). The function of dietary fiber is attributed mainly to structural polysaccharides of seaweed cell walls, for example, agars, carrageen, ulvanes, and fucoidans. Sulphated polysaccharides exhibit immunomodulatory, antitumor, antithrombotic, anticoagulant, anti-mutagenic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antiviral activities including anti-HIV infection, herpes, and hepatitis viruses (Misurcova et al. 2012). Much attention is attracted in the area of antimicrobial activities of seaweeds. Poly phenols gained much interest due to their structural diversity and a broad spectrum of functional activities such as anticoagulant, antioxidant, anti-vasculogenic, antimicrobial, and anti-proliferative properties (Cotas et al. 2020). Bromophenols (Liu et al. 2009) and compounds, such as bis (2,3-dibromo-4,5-dihydroxybenzyl) ether exhibited antibacterial activity against several strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (Liu et al. 2017). The prebiotic effect of Sargassum brown seaweed species on stimulating beneficial bacteria of gut microbiome such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium or Faecalibacterium has been documented (Praveen et al. 2019; Fu et al. 2018; Rodrigues et al. 2016).

Commercial utilization of seaweeds involves extraction of agar, alginates and carrageenan. Attempts to utilize Sargassum seaweed as a functional ingredient were noted in fish (Senthil et al. 2005) and vegetable snack products (Mamatha et al. 2007) and pasta (Prabhasankar et al. 2009) which enhanced the functional and sensory properties, as well as the nutritional quality due to its bioactive components. Feeding of Sargassum vulgare extracts were reported to promote synergistic effect on growth and immune modulation in common carps (Sabzi et al. 2023). However, its potential use as a dietary constituent in human diet is found to be limited in India.

Sargassum, a genus of brown seaweed, commonly known as gulf-weed or sea holly belonging to family Sargassaceae, order Fucales, subclass Cyclosporeae, and class Phaeophyceae, contains approximately 400 species (Blunt et al. 2008: Mattio and Payri 2011). Sargassum tenerrimum are yellow in colour, pyramidal in shape with several forked secondary branches arising from short rounded and glabrous primary axis which is attached to the basal disc. The leaves are linear in shape, thin, translucent with toothed margins and indistinct midrib.

There are numerous reports on their secondary metabolites and biological activities (Itoh et al. 1993) of brown seaweeds. Their antibacterial properties have also been explored (Tuney et al. 2006). The reports relevant to the properties of brown algae Sargassum polycystum, Sargassum tenerrimum and Sargassum cinctum collected in the Mandapam coast of Tamil Nadu are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial activity, physico-chemical, nutritive and organoleptic characteristics of the three Sargassum species from Mandapam Coast, Tamil Nadu to bring to limelight its potential scope in functional meat products.

Sample collection and processing

Edible Indian brown seaweeds viz., Sargassum polycystum, Sargassum tenerrimum and Sargassum cinctum (Fig. 1) were collected from the ocean of Gulf of Mannar (Mandapam coast, Lat 09 ° 17 ’N, Long 79 ° 07 ’E), Tamil Nadu, India during months from July to December. The seaweeds are transported in refrigerated condition in thermocole containers and the species were identified and authenticated by the Botanical Survey of India, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The collected seaweeds were immediately washed several times in fresh water to remove the epiphytes, salt and extraneous contaminants, shade dried under blotting paper for 2–4 days, dried in hot air oven at 40°C for 5–6 hours, powdered in mixer, sieved using muslin cloth to obtain a fine powder, packed in sterile polyethylene pouches and stored at frozen storage(-20°C) for in-vitro antibacterial activity, physico-chemical, nutritive and organoleptic quality assessment.

Aqueous extraction was carried out as per the protocol outlined by Narasimhan et al. (2013) with slight modifications outlined by Rupapara et al. (2015). One gram of dried sample mixed with distilled water (1:10, w/v) in a conical flask was subjected to continuous shaking at 100 rpm in a rotary shaker at room temperature (25–30˚C) for 24 hours. The mixture was centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 15 minutes and filtered using Whatman No.1filter paper. The filtrate was evaporated in a hot air oven at 45°C and the dried extract was suspended in distilled water to a known stock concentration of 20,000µg/ml. The extracts were stored in amber coloured vials at -20°C for assessment of antimicrobial activity by Agar Gel Disc Diffusion test.

In-vitro antimicrobial activity of aqueous extracts of edible Indian brown seaweeds (Sargasssum sps)

Aqueous extracts of the three species of brown seaweeds viz., Sargassum polycystum, Sargassum tenerrimum and Sargassum cinctum were subjected to assessment In-vitro antimicrobial activity by Agar gel disc diffusion test, to select one species of Sargassum. In-vitro antimicrobial activity of aqueous extracts of Sargassum sps were tested by Agar Gel disc diffusion method (Patra et al., 2008). Agar plates with Muller Hilton Agar were spread with 100 µl of different bacterial cultures viz., Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, E.coli and Pseudomonas aeroginosa containing 1×10⁸ cfu/ml. Bacterial cultures were obtained from Microbial Type culture collection & Gene Bank, (MTCC) Chandigarh, India. Water was used as negative control and the broad spectrum antibiotic, Ceftrioxone was used as positive control for this assay. The dried seaweed extract was dissolved in Millipore water to final concentration of 2000 µg/ml. Sterile filter paper discs (Himedia) of 6 mm diameter, impregnated with 10 µL and 25µL of seaweed extract were placed on the Muller Hilton Agar plate on which bacteria had been spread. After incubation at 37°C in the dark for 24 hours, assessment was based on the absence or presence of bacterial growth in the contact zone between the agar and the samples and on the eventual appearance of an inhibition zone (IZ) which was calculated using the Himedia - Hi Antibiotic Zone Scale.

Physico-Chemical Characteristics

Swelling capacity

Swelling capacity of the Sargassum seaweeds were analyzed following the experimental protocol (Robertson et al. 2000) by the bed volume technique after equilibrating in excess solvent. Ten milliliter of distilled water containing 0.02% sodium azide was added to seaweed samples (500mg) in a 10 mL measuring cylinder (0.1 mL graduations. The mixture was stirred gently to eliminate trapped air bubbles and left undisturbed overnight on a level surface at room temperature to allow the sample to settle. The volume (mL) occupied by the sample was measured and swelling capacity was expressed as mL per g of dry sample.

Water retention capacity

Thirty milliliter of distilled water was added to 500 mg of seaweed powder in a 50 mL centrifuge tube. The sample was stirred and left at room temperature for 1 h and then centrifuged at 3000×g for 20 min, the supernatant was discarded, the residue was weighed, and WRC calculated as g water per g of dry sample (Robertson et al. 2000).

Oil retention capacity

The protocol followed is the same as for Water retention capacity but using commercial olive oil instead of water and expressed as g olive oil retained per g of dry sample.

Nutritional characteristics

Total protein was determined by the Kjeldahl method and calculated using a nitrogen conversion factor of 6.25 (Ortiz et al. 2006; Yaich et al. 2011) and expressed as percentage of dry weight. The extractable fat was determined using the Soxhlet extraction method with petroleum ether 40:60 as solvent (AOAC 2000). The ash and crude fibre were ascertained according to the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC 2000). Dietary fibre was estimated by the modified enzymatic and gravimetric method prescribed by method (AOAC 2012) and expressed in g/100g.

Organoleptic characteristics

The three species of Sargassum seaweeds were tested for their organoleptic quality characteristics such as appearance and colour in day light, odour and taste were also studied following the methods of Arun Kumar and Paridhavi (2011) when fresh, dried and powered. Conventional sensory evaluation was done by non-trained consumer panel (n = 12), to understand the perception of sensory attributes of odour such as seaweed like odour, herbal odour, pungent odour and taste such as seafood like taste, salty, bitter, astringent. The aim of this organoleptic study, was to get a general idea of the perception of the attributes by consumers that would not be very familiar with that kind of product, and the use of that sort of panel would be enough and selection of sensory attributes of odour and taste are based on earlier studies (Clapperton and Piggott 1979; Delahunty and Morissey 1997; Husson et al. 2001; Huson and Pages 2003; Peinado et al. 2014; Garcia et al. 2021). Continuous non-structured scale was used for evaluation. The left side of the scale corresponded to the lowest intensity (value 0) and the right side to the highest intensity (value 10). Each panelist rinsed their mouth with mineral water and ate a plain cracker between samples to prevent the interception of perception among seaweeds.

In-vitro Antimicrobial activity of aqueous extract of edible Indian brown seaweeds ( Sargasssum sps )

The zone of inhibition (mm) against common food spoilage organisms was highest in the aqueous extract of S. tenerrimum among the three species of Sargassum (Fig. 2). The zone of inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus (12.67 ± 0. 58; 10.33 ± 0.58) and Escherichia coli (12.00 ± 1.00; 11.00 ± 1.00) were observed at the low concentration of 400 µg of S. polycystum and S. cinctum respectively and against Bacillus cereus (11.67 ± 0.58; 12.67 ± 0.58) and Pseudomonas aeroginosa (13.67 ± 0.58; 12.67 ± 0.58) at a higher concentration of 1000 µg respectively. S.tenerrimum recorded the zone of inhibition (mm) against all the microorganisms at the minimal concentration of 400 µg (Staphylococcus aureus (13.33 ± 0.58), Bacillus cereus (12.00 ± 1.00), Escherichia coli (13.33 ± 0.58) and Pseudomonas aeroginosa (12.33 ± 0.58)).

Physico-Chemical Characteristics

The physico-chemical characteristics of the three species of Sargassum are presented in Table 1.

Swelling Capacity (ml/g DW)

The swelling capacity of the three Sargassum seaweeds were in the range of 5–10 per cent with highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) variations. S. tenerrimum was observed to record the highest swelling capacity (10.08 ± 0.88) among the three species.

Water Retention Capacity (g water/g DW)

The water retention capacity of the three Sargassum species were in the range of 5–9 g water/g DW with highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) variations. S. tenerrimum had significantly higher values (8.99 ± 1.25) compared to the other two species.

Oil Retention Capacity (g oil/g DW)

The oil retention capacity was low and similar for all the three species of Sargassum was found be in the range of 0.8–1.0 g oil/g DW with significant (P ≤ 0.05) variations. S. tenerrimum had significantly higher oil retention capacity (1.01 ± 0.12) compared to other species of Sargassum.

Table 1

Mean ± SD of Physico-chemical of the edible Indian Brown Seaweeds- *Sargassum sps*
Sargassum species	Swelling Capacity (ml/g dry wt)	Water Retention Capacity (g water/gm dry wt)	Oil Retention Capacity (g oil/gm dry wt)
Sargassum polycystum	5.28^a ± 0.91	6.72^a ± 0.35	0.87^a ± 0.08
Sargassum tenerrimum	10.08^c ± 0.88	8.99^b ± 1.25	1.01^b ± 0.12
Sargassum cinctum	6.86^b ± 0.95	5.12^a ± 0.32	0.88^a ± 0.06
“F” value	42.80**	37.98**	4.88*

Means bearing different superscripts between rows (a,b,c,d) differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05)

Nutritional Characteristics

The nutritional characteristics of the three species of Sargassum are presented in Table 2.

Protein

The protein content (%) of the three species of Sargassum were in the range of 11–13 per cent with highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) variations. S. tenerrimum had significantly higher (P ≤ 0.01) protein content (13.42 ± 0.33) than the other two species of Sargassum.

Fat

The fat content (%) of the three species of Sargassum were in the range of 1–2 per cent with highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) variations. S. tenerrimum had significantly lower (P ≤ 0.01) fat content (1.30 ± 0.30) than the other two species of Sargassum.

Ash

The ash content (%) of the three species of Sargassum were in the wider range of 13–31 per cent with highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) variations. S. tenerrimum had significantly higher (P ≤ 0.01) ash content (30.76 ± 0.38) than S. polycystum.

Crude fibre

The crude fibre content (%) of the three species of Sargassum were in the range of 8–10 per cent with highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) variations. S. tenerrimum had significantly higher (P ≤ 0.01) crude fibre content (1.30 ± 0.30) than S. cinctum.

Dietary fibre

The dietary fiber content of the three species of Sargassum were in the range of 53–65 per cent where S.tenerrimum had significantly (P ≤ 0.01) higher value (64.97 ± 4.71) than other two species.

Table 2

Mean ± SD of Nutritional Characteristics of edible Indian Brown Seaweeds- *Sargassum sps*
Nutritional Characteristics	Sargassum polycystum	Sargassum tenerrimum	Sargassum cinctum	“F” value
Protein (%)	11.54^a ± 0.34	13.42^b ± 0.33	11.90^a ± 0.33	54.27**
Fat (%)	2.10^c,±0.13	1.30^a ± 0.30	1.71^b ± 0.23	17.54**
Crude Fibre (%)	9.99^b±^,0.73	10.29^b,±1.29	8.26^a ± 0.57	8.59**
Ash (%)	13.33^a ± 0.37	30.76^b ± 0.38	13.65^ab ± 0.20	2.85**
Dietary Fibre (%)	53.78^a ± 5.29	64.97^b ± 4.71	55.95^a ± 3.98	9.59**

Means bearing different superscripts between columns (a,b,c,d) differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05)

Organoleptic Characteristics

The results of descriptive organoleptic characteristics of the three species of Sargassum at stages such as fresh, dried and powdered are presented in Table 3. All the three species of Sargassum were in the shades of yellow to brown from the time of collection to powder. The texture was soft to rough when fresh. crispy to crumbled when dried and soft to coarse when powdered. The odour and taste scores presented in radar chart (Fig. 3) revealed fishy, seafood and dry fish odour when fresh, and additionally sea weed like odour and sea food like odour when dried and powdered respectively. The organoleptic scores of odour and taste were observed to be higher in S. tenerrimum than other two species for the attributes assessed.

Table 3

Descriptive Organoleptic characteristics (colour and texture) of Edible Indian Brown Seaweeds- *Sargassum sps.*
	Colour	Texture
Fresh
Sargassum polycystum	Light brown	Soft
Sargassum tenerrimum	Brownish yellow	Soft
Sargassum cinctum	Brown	Rough
Dried
Sargassum polycystum	Greenish brown	Crispy
Sargassum tenerrimum	Light yellow	Crispy
Sargassum cinctum	Dark brown	Crumbled
Powdered
Sargassum polycystum	Light brownish green	Coarse
Sargassum tenerrimum	Light brownish yellow	Soft
Sargassum cinctum	Light brown	Coarse

In-vitro antimicrobial activity of aqueous extract of edible Indian brown seaweeds ( Sargasssum sps )

The zone of inhibition (mm) was highest in the aqueous extract of S. tenerrimum among the three species of Sargassum even at low concentration of 400 µg for Staphylococcus aureus (13.33 ± 0.58), Bacillus cereus (11.67 ± 0.58), Escherichia coli (13.33 ± 0.58) and Pseudomonas aeroginosa (12.33 ± 0.58). The zone of inhibition of the aqueous extracts of the three species of Sargassum against Bacillus sp and E.coli were in coincidence with the results of Patra et al. (2008) against the same concentrations of methanolic extract of Sargassum sp, whereas the zone of inhibition was higher for Staphylococcus aureus in this study. The overall antimicrobial capacity of seaweeds appears to be linked to their antioxidant content (Devi et al. 2008). The anti-bacterial effect of sea weed could be attributed to the alginate fraction of seaweed polysaccharide as stated by Holdt and Kraan (2011) and Neetoo et al. (2010) who observed highest anti-listerial activity against Listeria monocytogenes in cold smoked salmon slices and filets. Rajauria et al. (2013) observed that aqueous extract of Himanthalia elongata, a brown seaweed exhibited good antimicrobial activity against gram –ve bacteria and moderate activity against gram + ve bacteria. Potent anti-bacterial activities against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus was recorded by Arguelles (2022) in Sargassum oligocystum Montagne in Philippines.

Physico-Chemical Characteristics

Swelling capacity

The swelling capacity of the three species of Sargassum (5–10 ml/g) were in accordance with the values recorded for the edible Spanish brown seaweeds (Rupérez and Calixto 2001; Gomez- Ordonez et al. 2010). S. tenerrimum recorded higher value than that recorded in the same species by Azhagu Raj et al. (2015) and were found to be lower than the other species of brown seaweeds (Fleury and Lahaye 1991).

Water Retention Capacity

The water retention capacity values of the three species of Sargassum (5–9 g/g) were found to be in lesser order of magnitude than that recorded in brown seaweeds of other studies (Fleury and Lahaye 1991; Ruperez and Calixto 2001) and in accordance to the values recorded by Gomez-Ordonez et al. (2010). The differences among the species of brown seaweeds could be due to differences in the seaweed origin and treatment. Water retention capacity of S. tenerrimum was in lesser order of magnitude than that observed in the same species by Azhagu Raj et al. (2015). A positive correlation is associated between water retention and swelling capacity in this study (Suzuki 1996) which could be related to higher uronic acids content from alginates in brown seaweeds (Ruperez and Calixto 2001). Since the seaweed proteins are closely related to the cell wall polysaccharides (Fleurence 1999), they may also play a role in the physicochemical properties, such as water holding. However, values of WRC are difficult to compare with each other, because they depend on the experimental conditions (temperature, time, centrifugation), as well as on sample preparation (Michel et al. 1988). Higher water retention capacity of seaweed can be applied in development of meat products where it helps to improve the yield due to increased water retention and gel formation during cooking (Lopez et al. 2009).

Oil Retention Capacity

Oil retention capacity of the Sargassum species (0.9-1.0 g/g) were in accordance with the other species of brown algae (Fleury and Lahaye 1991; Ruperez and Calixto 2001; Gomez-Ordonez et al. 2010). The low oil retention capacity of brown seaweeds could be related to the hydrophilic nature of the charged polysaccharides of SDF such as alginates, fucans, agar, carrageenan, etc. (Fleury and Lahaye 1991).

Nutritional Characteristics

Crude Protein

The protein values obtained in this study for the three species of Sargassum (12–14%) were found to be in higher order of magnitude compared to that observed by Ruperez and Calixto 2001 (6.9%); Yaich et al. 2011 (8.4%); Ortiz et al. 2006 (10%) and Peinado et al. 2014 (2.9–5.8%), in the lower order of magnitude to that observed by Gomez-Ordonez et al. 2010 (25.70%) and comparable protein value (Dawczynski et al. 2007) in other brown seaweeds. The protein content was comparable to the values (8–14%) observed for Sargassum species such as S. wightii, S. echinocarpum, S. henslowianum, S. mangarevense, S.obtusifolium and S.thunbergii (Wong and Cheung 2001; Heo et al. 2003; McDermid and Stuercke 2003; Zubia et al. 2003; Kumar et al. 2015). Higher protein levels (14–19%) were recorded by various authors in Sargassum species such as S. oligocystum, S. coreanum, S. lomentaria and S. vulgare (Arguelles 2022, Heo et al. 2003 and Marinho-Soriano et al. 2006). Lower protein values (< 10%) were recorded in Sargassum sp such as S. filipendula, S. hemiphyllum, S. horneri, S. myriocystum, S. patens, S. polycystum, and S. pteropleuron (Chan et al. 1997; Dawes 1987; Wong and Cheung 2001; Matanjun et al. 2009; Badrinathan et al. 2011; Murakami et al. 2011). These differences might be expected to be the variations in the protein content of seaweeds that can be attributed to species differences, seasonal effects and thallus maturation (Rioux et al. 2009; Yaich et al. 2011; Kumar et al. 2015).

Crude Fat

The majority of the seaweeds contain low concentration of lipids ranging from 0.9 to 5% of the algal biomass (Schmid et al. 2014; Arguelles et al. 2018; Arguelles and Martinez-Goss 2021) and few species of Sargassum carries very low fat content of less than 1% such as that found in 0.3% in S. fulvellum and S. thunbergii, 0.7% in S. lomentaria, 0.3% in S. polycystum, 0.6–2.7% in S. pteropleuron, 0.5–1.0% in S. horneri and 0.5% in S. vulgare (Heo et al. 2003; Marinho-Soriano et al. 2006; Matanjun et al. 2009; Murakami et al. 2011). The fat content values of the three species of brown seaweeds (1–2%) were comparable to the values observed by Arguelles (2022) and Pienado et al. (2014), lower than Sargassum wightii (2–3%) (Kumar et al. 2015), Bifurcaria bifurcata (5.6%) and higher than Himanthalia elongata (0.94) and Laminaria saccharina (0.79) observed by Gómez-Ordóñez et al. (2010). The differences observed could be attributed to factors such as climate, geographical origin of the seaweed and the method used to extract oil. The fat content of Sargassum play a vital role in controlling lipid metabolism. The lipophilic components such as glycolipids, phospholipids, phytosterols, and other bioactive compounds present in Sargassum fat helps in cell membrane function, and physiological processes related to lipid metabolism as reported in fish body (Dawczynski et al. 2007; Arguelles et al. 2019), hypolipidemic effect of brown algae is attributed to the presence of phytosterols (Chen et al. 2023). Phytosterols in Sargassum reduce the availability of cholesterol for absorption in the intestine (Meinita et al. 2021). Additionally, certain phytosterols, such as stigmasterol, have demonstrated α-amylase inhibitory activity, which can contribute to lower blood glucose levels (Poulose et al. 2021).

Crude Fibre

The values recorded for the three species of Sargassum were in the order of magnitude recorded for Sargassum oligocystum (Arguelles 2022), which is also within the range of those reported crude fibre content of other seaweeds (9–21% of the algal biomass) (Arguelles 2020; Schmid et al. 2014).

Dietary Fibre

Dietary fibre of seaweeds are stated to be higher (Mabeau and Fleurence 1993; MacArtain et al. 2007) with high soluble dietary fibre than insoluble fraction (Jiménez-Escrig and Sánchez-Muniz 2000; Rupérez and Calixto 2001), than that reported in most higher plants and terrestrial foodstuffs. Variations in dietary fibre between the species of Sargassum was observed which may be due to exogenous factors such as various biotopes and environmental conditions, stages of algal life cycle and various placements in seaweed tissues (Misurcova 2011). The total dietary fibre content of the three Sargassum seaweeds (53–65%) were in the higher order of magnitude than the dietary fibre content reported in other studies (33.6 to 50%) (Lahaye 1991; Mabeau and Feurence 1993; Lahaye and Kaeffer 1997; Ruperez and Calixto 2001; Dawczynski et al. 2007; Cofrades et al. 2008; Gomez- Ordonez et al. 2010) and was comparable to the dietary fibre content of E. compressa (Praveen et al. 2019). Variations in dietary fibre with other recorded values of brown seaweeds may be attributed to the differences in extraction method, differences in seaweed composition due to geographical or seasonal variations (Ruperez and Calixto 2001).

Ash

Algae, including brown seaweeds, are rich sources of minerals (Holdt and Kraan 2011; Rajapakse and Kim 2011). Brown algae in particular have been found to contain significant amounts of minerals, ranging from 30.1–39.3%. This high ash content is a general feature of seaweeds, and these values are generally much higher than those of terrestrial vegetables other than spinach (Rupérez 2002). The ash content of S. tenerrimum (30.76%) was similar to the value recorded for various species of Sargassum such as S. naozhouense (35.18%), and S. vulgare (27.09%) (Arguelles et al. 2019) and S. oligocystum (39.01%) of Philippines (Arguelles, 2022), and higher than S. wightii (15–22%) recorded by Kumar et al. 2015 while other two species were comparable to S. wightii. Variable values of ash were reported in various Sargassum sp, low values in S. coreanum (12.8%), S. thunbergii (13.3%), S. vulgare (14.2%) and S. fulvellum (17.9%) (Heo et al. 2003; Soriano et al. 2006) and high values were recorded in S. echinocarpum, S. patens, S. obtusifolium, S. mangarevense, S. lomentaria, S. filipendula, S. horneri, and S. polycystum (Dawes et al 1987; Wong and Cheung 2001; Heo et al. 2003; Mc Dermid et al. 2003; Zubia et al. 2003; Matanjun et al. 2009; Murakami et al. 2011). The ash content of S. tenerrimum was found to be higher than that recorded by Peinado et al. (2014) and lower than that recorded by Ordonez et al. (2010) in other species of brown seaweeds. A high concentration of ash would indicate the presence of high amounts of micro minerals (copper, iodine, zinc, molybdenum, iron, selenium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, and boron) and macro-minerals (magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, calcium, and sulfur) in Sargassum seaweeds.

Organoleptic Characteristics

Organoleptic characteristics of alga powered sample results revealed that the colour is brown, aromatic smell and soft nature when fresh as reported by Azhagu Raj et al. (2015). Seaweed-like aroma and seafood- like taste were the attributes with higher scores and they are more related to define a sample as “Sea food like”. Characteristic seaweed like aroma was identified as freshness indicator in Ulva rigida (Garcia et al. 2021) during the storage. These two attributes were found to be significant in Laminaria sp among the different brown seaweeds studied (Peinado et al. 2014). S. tenerrimum had the strongest seafood like odour when fresh and seaweed like odour when dried and powdered. It had strongest seafood like taste when powdered.

The results of the in-vitro antimicrobial activities of the aqueous extracts of the three species of Sargassum, Indian brown seaweeds viz., S. polycystum, S. tenerrimum and S. cinctum revealed highest zone of inhibition (mm) in the aqueous extract of S. tenerrimum among the three species of Sargassum. The antimicrobial activity was evinced even at low concentration of 400 µg for Staphylococcus aureus (13.33 ± 0.58), Bacillus cereus (11.67 ± 0.58), Escherichia coli (13.33 ± 0.58) and Pseudomonas aeroginosa (12.33 ± 0.58). Based on the results of in-vitro analysis, S. tenerrimum was selected as an active ingredient in meat food products which would benefit the consumers with nutrition and health due to the availability of important biomolecules that is present in seaweeds. The high ash content, crude fibre, dietary fibre and low fat content of S. tenerrimum suggests that it is a good alternative source of minerals and fibre that can be utilized for food, agricultural and industrial applications. The phytochemical compounds in seaweed could therefore serve as functional ingredient to convenience meat products.

Conflict of Interest

There is no conflict of interest among the authors and financial organization with regard to the conception of research to writing of manuscript.

Funding

The research work is done as a subproject entitled “Functional chicken meat nuggets incorporating millets and seaweed (Sargassum sp”- PHT/TANUVAS/2019/02), under an All India Co-ordinated and Research Project on Post Harvest Engineering Technology, funded by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India with a budget of Rs.112.59 lakhs for the year 2020-21. No separate grant was sanctioned for this research work.

Author Contribution

CV- Concept and design of the study, Data collection and material preparation VAR- Conceptualization, Methodology, Visualization, monitoring, validation, manuscript review RNB- Visualization, Manuscript reviewRK- Visualization, Manuscript reviewSE- Statistical analysis , Manuscript editingAll authors read and approved the manuscript for submission

Acknowledgement

The author is thankful to the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai-51 for provision of facilities and the All India Coordinated Research Project on Post Harvest Engineering Technology, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi for provision of funds as a sub project under the scheme.

Data Availability

The raw data is available in Excel file and published in Meneleys Data Repository- Chandrasekar, Vasanthi (2024), “Sargassum species- Physico-chemical, Nutritional, Organoleptic evaluation and figures”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/yszsg6y7v4.1

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No competing interests reported.

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In-vitro anti-bacterial activity, nutritional, physico-chemical and organoleptic evaluation: Sargassum sps- Tropical Brown Seaweeds

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Abstract

Figures

Introduction

Materials and Methods

Sample collection and processing

In-vitro antimicrobial activity of aqueous extracts of edible Indian brown seaweeds (Sargasssum sps)

Physico-Chemical Characteristics

Swelling capacity

Water retention capacity

Oil retention capacity

Nutritional characteristics

Organoleptic characteristics

Results

Physico-Chemical Characteristics

Swelling Capacity (ml/g DW)

Water Retention Capacity (g water/g DW)

Oil Retention Capacity (g oil/g DW)

Nutritional Characteristics

Protein

Fat

Ash

Crude fibre

Dietary fibre

Organoleptic Characteristics

Discussion

Physico-Chemical Characteristics

Swelling capacity

Water Retention Capacity

Oil Retention Capacity

Nutritional Characteristics

Crude Protein

Crude Fat

Crude Fibre

Dietary Fibre

Ash

Organoleptic Characteristics

Conclusion

Declarations

Conflict of Interest

Funding

Author Contribution

Acknowledgement

Data Availability

References

Additional Declarations

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