Structural constituents of the seagrass Posidonia australis

dc.contributor.authorTorbatinejad, Nour Mohammaden
dc.contributor.authorAnnison, Geoffreyen
dc.contributor.authorRutherfurd-Markwick, Kayen
dc.contributor.authorSabine, John Roberten
dc.contributor.schoolSchool of Social Sciencesen
dc.date.issued2007en
dc.descriptionCopyright © 2007 American Chemical Societyen
dc.description.abstractLarge amounts of seagrass, Posidonia australis, wash onto beaches in South Australia each year, causing substantial environmental problems. It was of interest to assess the potential for an economic use of this seagrass-such as for animal nutrition. Structural constituents of P. australis (green, freshly deposited, and both washed and unwashed samples from dried deposits on the beach) were examined and compared. Glucose, galactose, and mannose were the dominant sugars (>10 g kg-1 of dry matter) in the soluble fraction of nonstarch polysaccharides in all seagrass forms. The content of the insoluble constituents of the nonstarch polysaccharides was significantly higher than soluble nonstarch polysaccharide constituents (P < 0.01). Data showed that the major constituents of the Posidonia cell wall are cellulose and lignin (190-209 and 145-154 g kg-1, respectively). The crude protein content of Posidonia ranged from 54 to 61 g kg-1. Results showed no biologically significant compositional differences between the four different forms of seagrass tested. Dry, unwashed seagrass, which is readily available in large quantities and easily harvested, may have potential as a foodstuff for ruminant animals.en
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2007; 55 (10):4021-4026en
dc.identifier.doi10.1021/jf063061aen
dc.identifier.issn0021-8561en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/45963
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherAmerican Chemical Societyen
dc.subjectSeagrass; animal nutrition; cell wall composition; nonstarch polysaccharidesen
dc.titleStructural constituents of the seagrass Posidonia australisen
dc.typeJournal articleen

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