Seaweed Resources of India

Seaweeds yield valuable phycocolloids like agar-agar and algin which are widely used in many industries. They are also utilised as food, fodder and fertiliser. Survey of natural seaweed resources and investigation of the chemical composition, methods of extraction, ecology, cultivation and other aspects related to their utilisation are therefore of utmost importance. Majority of the economic seaweeds come under three classes namely the Green algae (Chlorophyceae), the Brown algae (Phaeophyceae) and the Red algae (Rhodophyceae) and they are generally restricted to the relatively narrow littoral and sublittorial belts of the marine environment.