A COMPARATIVE-STUDY ON PROXIMATE COMPOSITION AND MINERALS CONTENTS OF3 FRESH-WATER GREEN-ALGAE

An investigation was conducted to find out the biochemical nature of t hree green algae, namely Hydrodictyon sp., Spirogyra sp. and Pithophor a sp. The proximate composition and mineral contents of these green al gae revealed that they contained significant amount of protein (18 - 2 6%), carbohydrate (43 - 65%), fat (6.21 - 10.63%), crude fibre (0.54 - 2.5%). The detected minerals (mg 100(-1)) were Ca (1.7 - 6.74), Mg (7 .8 - 40.34), Na (0.15 - 0.30), K (152 - 305), P (33.09 - 81.54), Fe (6 .35 - 56.70), Zn (1.33 - 19.63) and Cu (0.13 - 0.58). The results were compared with those of some blue green algae, green algae and some co mmon vegetables. It was observed that all the three algae of the prese nt investigation have higher amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates r esulting in the high calorie values (370-397 Kcal) and also they have higher amount of essential minerals. It may be suggested from the resu lts that these three algae bear the potential for use as the supplemen ts for proteins, fats, carbohydrates and minerals.