Multivariate analysis of fatty acid and biochemical constitutes of seaweeds to characterize their potential as bioresource for biofuel and fine chemicals

Abstract

In the present study bio prospecting of thirty seaweeds from Indian coasts was analyzed for their biochemical components including pigments, fatty acid and ash content. Multivariate analysis of biochemical components and fatty acids was done using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) to manifest chemotaxonomic relationship among various seaweeds. The overall analysis suggests that these seaweeds have multi-functional properties and can be utilized as promising bioresource for proteins, lipids, pigments and carbohydrates for the food/feed and biofuel industry.

Keywords: Biochemical constituents; Biomass; Fatty acids; Pigments; Principal component analysis; Seaweeds.