Despite some perceptions of economic risk, the global aquaculture industry continues to attract new entrepreneurs and investors. However, to sustain this trend, innovative and cost-effective strategies are needed. In recent years, algal farming has been shown to be a sustainable activity in the global Blue Economy. In 2015, harvests of the red algal agarophyte genus Gracilaria surged to over 114,100 tons dry weight which constituted ca. 91% of the total raw material for industrial agar production. We carried out a trial of experimental farming of the agar-yielding alga known as Gracilaria dura using a tube-net method along the Gujarat coast, India. The mean daily growth rate (DGR) of this agarophyte ranged from 1.88 ± 0.23% day −1 to 3.30 ± 0.25% day −1. Similarly, the mean yield varied between 0.62 ± 0.03 kg and 1.05 ± 0.02 kg fresh wt m −1 of tube-net. A Pearson correlation showed that both DGR and biomass yield were positively correlated with temperature. In addition, the DGR was significantly positively correlated with air temperature (r = 0.916; p < 0.01) whereas biomass yield was also positively correlated with surface seawater temperature (r = 0.986; p < 0.001). The economic projections for four harvests per year revealed that the value of the product was US$5577, while the investment required for the necessary tube-net infrastructure was US$1797 thereby providing US $1890 as profit to single farmers, a significant amount in the coastal communities of Gujarat. Thus, undertaking commercial farming of G. dura in Indian waters could diversify the livelihood of artisanal, coastal fishermen and further encourage the indigenous production of agarose.
Present short communication reports about beach stranding of Porpita porpita (Linnaeus 1758) from the Coast of Mandvi, Kutch during August 2021. Also, this is the first record of the blue button jellyfishes for the northern Gulf of Kutch region. A study was carried out by primary observation and measurements of common environmental parameters such as Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Wind Direction & Wind Speed. Aboral and oral parts were observed and described. It is assumed that the large biomass of blue button jellyfish on the beach is due to strong shoreward Monsoon winds.
Nano-carrier systems are highly explored for the slow release of a drug. Chitosan (CS), a polymer, has more applications in nano-drug carrier systems. To explore these applications, currently, we synthesized CS nanoparticles (CS-NPs), and it was allowed to encapsulate free Rutin (RUT) and it resulting in CS-NPs/RUT. Further, it was characterized, and the size of CS-NPs was found to be 79 nm, and upon encapsulating RUT, the particle size was increased to 173 nm, which resulted in CS-NPs/RUT. The entrapment of RUT with CS-NPs was found to be -85%. MTT-based cytotoxicity assay represented the non-lethal nature of CS-NPs/RUT toward normal osteoblast cells, C3H10T1/2 clone8, and showed cytotoxicity against pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells, PANC-1. Furthermore, we extended the study to analyze bacterial growth inhibition and incorporation by CS-encapsulated RUT. It was performed through flow cytometry in different concentrations of 100, 200, and 300 µg/ml of treatments in Escherichia coli. The bacterial inhibition and incorporation of bacteria were significantly higher in CS-NPs/RUT compared with RUT. Hence, the experiments depicted the superiority of CS-NPs/RUT over free RUT that suggested, CS encapsulation as an efficient system for delivering RUT for bacterial growth inhibition and also anti-cancer cell proliferation.
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