Minerals and Heavy Metal Present in the Selected Red Seaweeds of South Coast Region of Tamilnadu

The main aim of the study was to evaluate the various minerall and heavy metals parameters of seaweeds present in the south coastal line. The five red seaweeds namely Acanthophora deliei, Scinaia furcellata, Porphyra tenera, Gracilaria verucosa and Hypnea species were collected from the Pamban, South east coast India. These samples were analyzed for its mineral contents such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulphate, iron, copper, manganese, boran, zinc, phosphorus and iodine and heavy metal such as lead, nickel, cobalt, chromium, aluminium and cadmium were analysed using the standard procedure. Among the selected seaweeds, magnesium, chloride and sulphate content were more in gracilaria verrucosa (0.93g, 4.21g and 2.57g). Porphyra tenera contains high sodium (5.52g) than gacilaria verrucosa. Potassium content was high in gacilaria verrucosa (6.36g). The concentrations of Pb found in hypnea spicies in this study showed higher compared to other species. The higher concentration of nickel was found in Porphyra species. Less amount of chromium was present in acanthophora and hypnea species contains little amount of aluminium. Accordingly, these seaweed species were of high quality and safety and might be used in the field of nutrition. © 2015 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved