Carrageenan yield and quality of Chondrus crispus Stackhouse (Rhodophyta) cultivated in an Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) system

Abstract

Chondrus crispus Stackhouse, Irish moss, is a traditionally harvested seaweed of the Portuguese coast. The tetrasporophyte life phases produce lambda-type carrageenan, which has a wide application in the food industry and is increasingly promising in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Combining a carrageenophyte with promising new market niches, such as cold-water C. crispus lambda-carrageenan, may contribute to boost the economic viability of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) in Portugal, while converting land-based intensive fish farms into an ecological and more sustainable aquaculture. In the present study, IMTA-cultivated C. crispus had good carrageenan yields with alkaline extraction process when compared to wild harvested C. crispus from the Centre and North Portuguese coast. FTIR-ATR spectroscopy analysis of the carrageenans produced by IMTA-cultivated specimens, both in their native state and the alkaline extracted, was in conformity with results from previous studies on wild C. crispus from the Portuguese coast.