THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MAIN MACROALGAE FROM ROMANIAN BLACK SEA COAST WITH POTENTIAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGICAL USE

ABSTRACT

This paper presents recent information (period 2015-2017 evaluation) about the species with the most abundant development in the past years along the Romanian Black Sea coast, namely the green algae Ulva rigida and Cladophora sp. These two species are considered opportunistic, with a high reproductive capacity and a frequent distribution at the Romanian shore, with an abundant development between 0-3 meters depth, so it is considered accessible and easy to collect the algal material. In the present study the biochemical composition, heavy metals and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) content, microbiological indicators were assayed in 2018, in the two type of macroalgae from the Romanian Black Sea coast: U. rigida and Cladophora sp. The biochemical composition was analyzed using a UV-VIS Analytic Jena specord. The heavy metals were analyzed using graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectrometers, type SOLAAR M6 Dual Thermo Electron-UNICAM. The analytical determination of the OCPs content were made by the gas-chromatographic method with a Perkin Elmer gas chromatograph CLARUS 500, equipped with electron capture detector. The microbiological indicators (faecal indicator bacteria -FIBs) were assessed by “most probable number” (MPN) method which was used to analyze the concentrations of total coliforms (TC), Escherichia coli, and enterococci (FS) attached to the macroalgae. The obtained data showed for heavy metals, OCPs and microbiological indicators, values without toxic or contamination levels in macroalgae. The biochemical composition indicates the macroalgae potential in the aim of biotechnological use. The results prove that marine algae U. rigida and Cladophora sp. represent a source of raw material with exploitation possibilities in most of diverse domains of biotechnology.

Keywords: macroalgae, biochemical composition, heavy metals, organochlorine pesticides, microbiological indicators, biotechnology.