Bioactive Compounds of Sargassum polycystum as Potential Osmo Protectants for Mitigating Drought Stress in Vegetable Production

Fahrurrozi Fahrurrozi, Wuri Prameswari, Zainal Muktamar and Dia Sari

Background and Objective: Sargassum polycystum is a brown seaweed species that contains organic biostimulants and might serve as an exogenous osmoprotectant. The application of exogenous osmoprotectants is expected to increase the production of indigenous osmoprotectants in plant cells to alleviate the detrimental effects of vegetable crops experiencing drought stress. This research aimed to identify the content of bioactive compounds and pigments of S. polycystum seaweed. Materials and Methods: Samples of brown seaweed were harvested from Teluk Sepang Beach, Bengkulu City, Indonesia. Determination of biochemical compositions of S. polycystum was addressed in terms of amino acids, ash content, water content, carbohydrates, total fat, protein and total phenol as well as its pigment properties (total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids). Results: Results indicated that Sargassum polycystum had the highest proximate composition, namely carbohydrate content of 57.75% and the lowest proximate content, namely total fat content of 0.06%. Additionally, Sargassum polycystum has other proximate content, such as water content of 14.80%, ash content of 18.43% and protein content of 8.96%. The research results showed that 15 types of amino acids were detected in Sargassum polycystum. The L-glutamic acid content in Sargassum polycystum had the highest content, namely 5.09%, while the L-methionine content had the lowest content at 0.19%. Conclusion: It is concluded that 15 amino acids were detected, of which 7 were essential amino acids (L-histidine, L-threonine, L-arginine+tyrosine, L-methionine, L-valine, L-phenylalanine and L-isoleucine) and 8 of them are non-essential amino acids (L-aspartic acid, L-glutamic acid, L-serine, L-glutamine, L-glycine, L-alanine, L-leucine and L-lysine).

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