Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation of Sargassum boveanum ω3 and ω6 Fatty Acid Pro-file from Bushehr Coastlines

Sargassum boveanum is a kind of brown alga with many uses in food industries, medicine, and cosmetics. Given the presence of the algae in the Bushehr coasts and its ease of breeding, we can enjoy its numerous benefits.

In this study, samples of S. boveanum were collected from Shoraye-shahr, Naftkesh and Bandargah districts of Bushehr province, and prepared for extraction of total fat, quantita-tive and qualitative study of acid value (AV), peroxidation value (PV), refractive index (RI) and fatty acid profile by gas chromatography equipped with flame ionization detector (GC-FID).

AV was found 0.73, 0.73 and 0.72, and PV was found 0.75, 0.74 and 0.75 respectively in Shor-aye-shahr, Naftkesh and Bandargah districts. RI was found 1412 in all the three regions. Mean amount of oil was found 12%, 14%, and 3% respectively in samples from Shoraye-shahr, Naftkesh and Bandar-gah districts. Different fatty acids were identified in the samples collected from these regions: (C6), (C7), (C8), (C9), (C11), (C12), (C13), (C14), (C15), (C16), (C17), (C18:3), (C18:1), (C18:0), (C19), (C20) were identified. The mean amount of omega-6 to omega-3 were 0.30%, 0.24% and 0.15%, respectively in samples from Shoraye-shahr, Naftkesh and Bandargah districts. Furthermore, the percentage of extracted protein in dry matter was 15%.

In the three regions, the amount of saturated fatty acids was 87%-91%, unsaturated fatty acids comprised 8%-10%, and the highest amount of fatty acid pertained to arachidonic acid. The amount of omega-3 was higher than that of omega-6 in the oil of this algae. Therefore, it has high nutri-tional value, and can be used as a dietary supplement after toxicological and safety evaluations. Due to the suitable geographical climate of Bushehr province, it is recommended to cultivate the alga.