Mineral and Trace Metal Concentrations in Seaweeds by Microwave-Assisted Digestion Method Followed by Quadrupole Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

This study reports the total concentrations of mineral and trace metals sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, copper, zinc, and manganese in the seaweeds Padina tetrastromatica , Turbinaria ornate , Sargassum wightii , Sargassum swartzii , Gracilaria edulis , Ulva lactuca , Chaetomorpha antennina , and Halimeda opuntia collected from mandapam coastal regions, Southeast coast of India. Microwave-assisted digestion was used for sample preparation prior to mineral and trace metal analysis. Mineral and trace metal analyses were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The ranges of concentrations of mineral and trace metals in algae were 27.04 ± 2.54–194.08 ± 2.36 mg/kg for manganese, 1.88 ± 0.10–121.5 ± 0.70 mg/kg for sodium, 6.5 ± 0.56–90.5 ± 2.12 mg/kg for magnesium, 59.07 ± 0.34–672 ± 2.82 mg/kg for potassium, 13.15 ± 2.08–135.13 ± 1.59 for sulfur, 0.003 ± 0.001–3.44 ± 0.13 mg/kg for cobalt, 0.39 ± 0.19–8.95 ± 0.38 mg/kg for copper, 0.72 ± 0.28–25.72 ± 0.39 mg/kg for zinc, and 6.01 ± 0.27–188.47 ± 1.92 mg/kg for iron.The results were evaluated statistically, and the significant difference was observed in the mean concentrations of all mineral and trace elements, except Co, Cu, and Zn, among the type of seaweeds.