Evaluation of growth and product quality of Kappaphycus from across Indonesia
Indonesia is the largest producer of Eucheumatoid seaweeds, however, production constraints include the declining quality of seaweeds, particularly reduced gel strength, as well as variation in production and product quality between farming sites and across seasons. Furthermore, there are limited examples of controlled experiments evaluating these issues at farm sites nor in a standardised manner. This presentation describes the outcomes of R&D by Loka Riset Budidaya Rumput Laut (Centre for Seaweed Culture Research and Development, Gorontalo) on key production constraints for Kappaphycus, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. The objective of the work was to improve the quality of seaweeds produced at the farm level by focusing on molecular identification of cultivars across Indonesia and the evaluation of production and product quality in farm-scale production trials over 3 years. Key outputs during this time include genetic diversity analysis of cultivated Kappaphycus in Indonesian seaweed farms using COI gene, assessment of growth and product quality of Kappaphycus using standard techniques at different farming locations in Indonesia, the collection of Kappaphycus cultivars from throughout Indonesia and evaluation of growth and product quality using a common garden approach, and the demonstration of the ability to rejuvenate “old” strains of Kappaphycus and assessment of “superior” strains in other locations.