Volume 45, No. 02, Month MAY, Year 2021, Pages 119 - 133
Preliminary evaluation of the biochemical and antioxidant properties of seaweed species predominantly distributed in peninsular malaysia
Muhammad Farhan Nazarudin, Nurul Haziqah Alias, Noraznita Sharifuddin, Atifa Zainal Abidin, Mohd Ihsanuddin Ahmad, Nur Amirah Izyan Noor Mazli, Ikhsan Natrah, Mohammed Aliyu-Paiko, Azizul Isha
Seaweeds are rich sources of nutritional and biochemical components. In this study, five marine macroalgal species were collected from the coast of Peninsular Malaysia: Halimeda macroloba, Ulva intestinalis, Codium sp., Hydropuntia edulis and Sargassum ilicifolium. The seaweeds were explored biochemically (lipids, total carotenoids, chlorophyll a and b), their metabolites were identified using GC-MS analysis, and their antioxidant activity was determined using DPPH free radical scavenging. The highest total lipids (4.10 and 3.42 %) was found in H. macroloba and S. ilicifolium, the highest total carotenoids (162.00 and 159.18, µg·g-1) in U. intestinalis and Codium sp., and the highest chlorophyll a content (313.09±2.53 µg·g-1) in U. intestinalis. Codium sp. also contained the highest chlorophyll b (305.29±7.09 µg·g-1) content. Of the metabolites identified from the seaweeds, hexadecanoic acid, stigmast-5-en-3-ol, neophytadiene, and 2-Pentadecanone,6,10,14-trimethyl- were the most abundant. In the assay for antioxidant activity, U. intestinalis extract displayed significantly (p<0.05) higher DPPH inhibition (65.02 %) than the other species at the highest concentration (1,000 µg·mL-1) tested; however, the difference was small. At the lowest tested concentration (200 µg·mL-1), DPPH inhibition by U. intestinalis (58.42 %) extract was also the highest, and differed significantly from three of the other species. These findings highlight the potential of these seaweed species for cultivation as a sustainable source of functional food for human consumption.