Artificial Seed Production and Cultivation of the Edible Brown Alga, Sargassum Fulvellum (Turner) C. Agardh: Developing a new Species for Seaweed Cultivation in Korea

Abstract

Sargassum fulvellum is a brown alga recently introduced to the seaweed cultivation industry in Korea. There is current interest in the commercial scale of aquaculture of this species. For the artificial seeding and cultivation of this alga, growth and maturation were investigated from September 2002 to August 2003. Indoor culture experiments for maturation induction were also conducted at temperatures of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 • C and irradiances of 20, 50, 80 and 100 μmol photons m −2 s −1 under 16:8 h (L:D) photoperiod. Within a given culture test range, higher temperature and irradiance levels favoured the maturation of receptacles in S. fulvellum. Using temperature and irradiance control for thalli, artificial seed production of this species could be done one month earlier than thalli matured in nature. Under natural condition, receptacle formation of the plants began in February, and the eggs were released from March to April. For mature thalli of 200 g wet wt., artificial seeding was complete enough for attachment on seed strings of 100 m. Mean production obtained from the artificial seeding technique in situ was 3.0 kg wet wt m −1 of culture rope during the cultivation period.

Cultivation of the brown alga Sargassum horneri: sexual reproduction and seedling production in tank culture under reduced solar irradiance in ambient temperature

“…Changes in temperature, irradiance, and photoperiod as external eco-physiological triggers are well known in coordinating sexual reproduction in different seaweeds (Lüning et al 2008). Early shift in sexual reproduction at elevated water temperature and irradiance levels has been observed in several other seaweeds including Sargassum fulvellum (Hwang et al 2006), Hizikia fusiformis (Pang et al 2005), Laminaria saccharina (Pang and Lüning 2004), and Ulva pseudocurvata (Lüning et al 2008). In S. horneri, the shift of 3 months in comparison with field long-line farmed individuals was achieved in this investigation.…”

Study on Growth Characteristics of Sargassum fulvellum in the Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) System

“…The species grow at water depths of 3-5 m or deeper depending upon the aquatic environment (Hwang et al, 2006). Sargassum thalli can grow 1-2 m and a variety of studies on S. fulvellum cultivation were conducted.…”

Offshore and Multi-Use Aquaculture with Extractive Species: Seaweeds and Bivalves

“…Today, Sargassum lines are seeded with juvenile plants obtained from reproductive adults. Obtaining seedlings through sexual reproduction allows for mass production of new plants for seeding, and results in higher biomass yields (Hwang et al 2007;Peng et al 2013;Redmond et al 2014). Fertilized eggs are gathered from mature fronds and "seeded" onto seed string by allowing juveniles to attach to seed lines with newly forming rhizoids.…”