Avaliação do potencial de cultivo e produção de ágar de Gracilaria domingensis e de Gracilaria caudata na Enseada de Armação do Itapocoroy (Penha, Santa Catarina) / Evaluation of cultivation and agar production in Gracilaria domingensis and Gracilaria caudata (Rhodophyta, Gracilariales) at Enseada de Armação do Itapocoroy (Penha, Santa Catarina)

AUTOR(ES)

Cristalina Yoshie Yoshimura

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2006

RESUMO

Seaweed cultivation in the world began with empirical methodologies to propagate some species utilized as food. Later on, with the discovery of a process to extract and purify agar, it was soon realized that, because of the large volumes needed by a growing industry this activity would only be sustainable if based on mariculture once the natural beds were being depleted. Despite it was known that agar could also be extracted from Gracilaria species, besides the traditional species of Gelidium, that genus yielded a product with lower value. It was only after the discovery that an alkaline treatment could remove part of the sulphate that reduced the gel strength, and therefore improved the agar quality, that the commercial cultivation of Gracilaria species really got momentum and developed continuously. Nowadays, most of the agar produced in the world is based on Gracilaria spp. Although the exploitation of seaweeds for agar production in Brazil started as early as 1940, up to now our production is still very modest due to the limited biomass in the natural beds. Several attempts to cultivate local Gracilaria spp. have been made, some of which with promising results, but a real commercial mariculture never developed in Brazil so far. Based on that we developed this project aiming at the development of viable techniques to cultivate two species of Gracilaria common at the Enseada de Armação do Itapocoroy (Penha, Santa Catarina): Gracilaria domingensis and G. caudata. We also tested different protocols to better extract the agar from the selected species, comparing their yields and quality. Our results show that with some adaptations of the methodologies for cultivation and agar extraction utilized elsewhere it may be possible to make this a viable alternative.

ASSUNTO(S)

mariculture maricultura ágar gracilaria domingunesis gracilaria caudata gracilaria caudata agar cultivation gracilaria domingensis cultivo no mar

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