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Studies on carrageenans and effects of seawater phosphorus concentration on carrageenan content and growth ofAgardhiella subulata (C. Agardh) Kraft and Wynne (Rhodophyceae, Solieriaceae)

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Abstract

Gas liquid chromatography, chemical analyses, and infrared and13C-NMR spectroscopies indicated that phycocolloids extracted fromAgardhiella subulata had a dominant ι-carrageenan feature with less deviant ι-carrageenan and υ-carrageenan. The presence of methylated galactose and a small contamination by xylose were registered. Unattached plants were cultivated for 4 weeks in tanks receiving seawater enriched with 53.5 µM nitrate and 0 to 20 µM phosphate (Pi) week−1. The growth was phosphorus (P)-limited up to a tissue P content of 0.14 ± 0.03% dry weight. Maximal specific growth rate and carrageenan content were observed with enrichments of 6 µM Pi and 3 µM Pi, respectively. Hence carrageenan production was promoted in the range of 3–6 µM Pi. Further Pi enrichment was useless. This phenomenon, observed with P nutrition, is comparable to the ‘Neish effect’ in nitrogen nutrition studies.

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Presented in part at the XIIIth International Seaweed Symposium, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, August 1989.

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Chopin, T., Hanisak, M.D., Koehn, F.E. et al. Studies on carrageenans and effects of seawater phosphorus concentration on carrageenan content and growth ofAgardhiella subulata (C. Agardh) Kraft and Wynne (Rhodophyceae, Solieriaceae). J Appl Phycol 2, 3–16 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02179764

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