Comparative Estimation of Nutritionally Important Chemical Constituents of Red Seaweed, Gracilariopsis longissima, Affected by Different Drying Methods

Table 1

Proximate composition and mineral contents of dried red seaweed, Gracilariopsis longissima, by different processed methodologies.

Parameters	Drying method
	Freeze dried	Oven dried	Sun dried
Proximate composition
Moisture	90.24 ± 0.52^a	88.36 ± 0.65^b	88.01 ± 0.49^b
Protein (% DW)	30.63 ± 0.90^a	27.83 ± 0.5^b	27.26 ± 0.4^b
Lipid (% DW)	1.49 ± 0.05^a	1.26 ± 0.02^c	1.34 ± 0.04^b
Ash (% DW)	22.25 ± 1.1^b	24.71 ± 1.2^a	23.29 ± 0.9^ab
Carbohydrate (% DW)	30.45 ± 0.8^b	33.61 ± 0.7^a	32.98 ± 1.0^a
Mineral contents
Sodium (%)	0.82 ± 0.02^a	0.72 ± 0.03^b	0.75 ± 0.02^b
Potassium (%)	4.47 ± 0.05^a	4.05 ± 0.04^b	4.14 ± 0.06^b
Calcium (%)	2.54 ± 0.04^a	2.36 ± 0.06^b	2.29 ± 0.03^b
Magnesium (%)	0.58 ± 0.02^a	0.47 ± 0.01^b	0.44 ± 0.01^b
Phosphorus (%)	0.31 ± 0.03^b	0.38 ± 0.02^a	0.39 ± 0.02^a
Sulfur (%)	1.56 ± 0.05^b	1.68 ± 0.06^a	1.63 ± 0.06^a
Na/K	0.18 ± 0.00	0.18 ± 0.01	0.18 ± 0.01

Mean values and standard deviation of measurements for the three replicates. Different superscripts in a row differ significantly ( < 0.05).