EFFICACY OF ANTI-MICROFOULING AND TOXICITY FROM RED SEAWEED - Portieria hornemannii (Lyngbye) P.C.Silva 1987

Biofouling on drenched structures causes foremost monetary losses in the aquatic system. The point of this work was to screen the phytochemicals and antifouling capability of the different solvent extracts from seaweed Portieria hornemannii against fouling bacteria. Our methodology joins in-vitro toxicity bioassay, GC-MS and FT-IR analysis were carried out. The main target was to explore the biological activities of this species and to investigate the presence of chemical constituents. Primarily phytochemical analysis deduced the presence of the alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, phenols, coumarins carbohydrates and glycosides. The antibacterial activities were tested against ten biofilm-forming bacteria using hexane, ethyl acetate, acetone and methanol extract of P. hornemannii. The methanol extract revealed the highest inhibition zone against Bacillus flexus (15.4 mm) and lower inhibition recorded in the acetone extract showed the zone of inhibition against the Bacillus aryabhattai (8.5 mm). The toxicity assay was analyzed against Artemia nauplii, the 50% inhibitory concentration (LC-50) value of methanol extract was recorded as low toxic (500 µg/ml). The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of methanol fraction had shown the presence of bioactive compounds such as Oxirane, n-Hexadecanoic acid, 25-methyl-methyl ester and Lauroyl peroxide. Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) reveals the presence of functional groups in the methanol extract of P. hornemannii. The present work recommended that the methanol extract of P.hornemannii might be further explored for testing biological activities after the isolation of individual components. The mixture and various combinations of these chemicals may hint at actual potent agents which may be novel against vast varieties of biofilm creatures.