Studies on phycocolloid contents from seaweeds of south Tamil Nadu coast

Studies were made on agar from 8 red algae and algin from 10 brown algae collected from Tuticorin, Manapad, Tiruchendur, ldinthakarai and Kovalam along south Tamil Nadu Coast. The yield of agar varied from 18.0 to 48.3% and gel strength from 9 to 117 gm/sq. cm. The algin content ranged from 8.7 to 34.0%. These agar and algin yielding seaweeds can be exploited from the above places and used as additional source of raw material for the production of agar and sodium alginate.