Resumen del producto

We assessed the total biomass and the post-harvest recovering of the seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla at Laguna San Ignacio, B.C.S., México. A total weight of 1,300 wet tons ±516 ton were estimated, with a seasonal maximum of 1,004 wet tons in spring. This amount could be increased using an appropriate harvesting regime, as more than one harvesting per season. We also analyzed the seasonal variation (2007-2008) of the yield and quality of native and alkaline agar in the laboratory. The highest yield with alkali treatment were obtained in summer (17%), highest gel strength in spring (1,132 g cm-2), highest melting temperature in winter (98°C) and highest gelling temperature in summer (68 °C). We also experimented the effect of alkali treatment time with NaOH at Pilot Plant level. We found that during the agar extraction step the best results were obtained at 30 minutes. The yield was significantly reduced if the algae are storage for more than three years. We developed a new product named Pretreated Gracilaria Seaweed, which consist of Gracilaria treated with NaOH and dried. In order to test the stability, we sampled the PGS during one year of storage. The PGS showed stability in both yield and agar quality during the storage year, this suggested that alkali treatment could be a good method to avoid the agar hydrolysis during storage.

Palabras clave:

Para obtener una copia del documento contacta la personal de la biblioteca a través del correo bibliocicimar{a}ipn.mx