J. Trop. Agric. and Fd. Sc.

45(1)(2017): 25 – 36

Effect of drying temperature on the content of fucoxanthin,

phenolic and antioxidant activity of Malaysian brown
seaweed, Sargassum sp.
(Kesan suhu pengeringan terhadap kandungan fukozantin fenolik dan antioksidan
pada rumpai laut perang Malaysia Sargassum sp.)

I. Norra1, A. Aminah 2, R. Suri1 and J. Arif Zaidi1

1
Food Science Technology Research Centre, MARDI Headquarters, Persiaran MARDI-UPM,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
2
School of Chemical Science and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract
This study evaluated the influence of different drying temperatures on the
content of fucoxanthin, phenolic and antioxidant activity of Malaysian
brown seaweed, Sargassum sp. The brown seaweed was dried at 40, 65,
and 90 °C. All seaweeds dried powders were assessed for total lipid and
fucoxanthin. Non-boiled and boiled water extract were analysed for their
total phenolic content (TPC) using Folin-Ciocalteu method and antioxidant
activities were assayed by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,
2-phenyl-1-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) radical scavenging. Results of the study
showed that with increasing of drying temperature, it will enhance
significantly (p <0.05) the fucoxanthin content, TPC as well as antioxidant
activity of this dried brown seaweed in the boiled extracts. The dried brown
seaweed at 90 °C give the highest value for fucoxanthin content, total
phenolic content and antioxidant activity.

Keywords: seaweed, fucoxanthin, drying, total phenolic content, DPPH, FRAP

Introduction
Seaweeds are considered to be a rich source
of antioxidants (Cahyana et al. 1992).
Antioxidant activity is intensively focused
due to the currently growing demand from
the pharmaceutical industries where there is
interest in antiaging and anticarcinogenic
natural bioactive compounds, which possess
health benefits (Soo-Jin et al. 2005a).
Almost all photosynthesising plants
including seaweeds are exposed to a
combination of light and high oxygen
concentrations, which lead to the formation
of free radicals and other strong oxidising
agents, but they seldom suffer any serious
photodynamic damage during metabolism.
This fact implies that their cells have some
Article history Authors’ full names: Norra Ismail, Aminah Abdullah, Suri Rowi and Arif Zaidi Jusoh
Received: 26.3.15
Accepted: 4.2.16 E-mail: norra@mardi.gov.my
©Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute 2017
protective antioxidative mechanisms and
compounds (Matsukawa et al. 1997).
Recently, the potential antioxidant
compounds in seaweeds were identified as
some pigments (fucoxanthin, astaxanthin,
carotenoid) and polyphenols (phenolic acid,
flavonoid, tannins). These compounds are
widely distributed in seaweeds and are
known to exhibit higher antioxidative
activities (Soo-Jin et al. 2005a). They are
also excellent source of vitamins, dietary
fibres, minerals and protein (Lee et al. 2008)
and have been classified according to their
pigmentation into brown (Phaephyta), red
(Rhodophyta) and green (Chlorophyta)
seaweeds. Brown seaweed is known to

25
Effect of drying temperature
contain more bioactive components than
either green or red seaweeds. The pigment
fucoxanthin is what gives the brown
seaweed their greenish-brown colour.
Fucoxanthin and its metabolites have been
reported to possess antioxidative,
anticancerous, antiobesity and
antiinflammatory properties (Juan et al.
2011).
The antioxidant activity of several
brown seaweeds species had been
investigated such as Padina antilarum
(Chew et al. 2008), Petalonia binghamiae
(Takashi et al. 2006), Ecklonia cava, Ishige
okamurae, Sargassum fullvelum, Sargassum
horneri, Sargassum coreanum, Sargassum
thunbergii and Scytosipon lomentaria (Soo-
Jin et al. 2005b) were reported. Edible
brown seaweeds from North Borneo,
Malaysia which are Dictyota dichotoma,
Sargassum polycystum and Padina sp.
(Patricia et al. 2008) were also reported. This
indicates that brown seaweed can be a good
source of natural antioxidant which
potentially to be used as an ingredient in
food and beverages product.
In nature, seaweeds contain a large
amount of water. In fresh form,
approximately about 75 – 85% water and
15 – 25% organic components and minerals.
As seaweeds are perishable when fresh, thus
it could deteriorate within a few days after
harvest. Therefore, drying is an essential step
before they can be used in industrial
processing. Drying decreases the water
activity that retards the microbial growth,
helps to conserve the desirable qualities and
reduces the storage volume (Gupta et al.
2011). However, enzymatic and/or non-
enzymatic activities that may occur during
drying of the fresh plant tissues may lead to
significant changes in the composition of
phytochemicals (Capecka et al. 2005).
Hence, drying is an important technique in
seaweed processing.
From our previous study, antioxidant
capacity seemed to be influenced by the
drying method. Among three drying method
used (freeze-, sun- and oven-drying), oven-
drying at 50 °C is superior drying process for
Sargassum sp. and have been chosen as a
drying method. Generally, some bioactive
compounds will be degraded during drying
and extraction at a high temperatures. In
order to investigate the point at which the
temperature begins to significantly and
adversely affect phytochemical content in
Sargassum sp., the range of temperature
from low (40 °C) to high (90 °C) were
chosen in this study. Hence, the aim of this
study is to evaluate the effect of different
oven drying temperature on the content of
fucoxanthin, phenolic and antioxidant
activities of edible Malaysian brown
seaweeds.
Materials and methods
Materials
Malaysian brown seaweed, Sargassum sp.
was obtained from Perusahaan Rumpai Laut
Juni Kg. Singgamata, Pulau Bum-Bum,
Semporna, Sabah. Fresh brown seaweeds
were sun dried to avoid deterioration during
transportation to Peninsular Malaysia.
Chemicals and reagents
The solvents used for high performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis
were of HPLC grade. All other solvents and
chemicals used in the study were of
analytical grade. Standard fucoxanthin was
purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (≥95% purity
established by HPLC)
Sample preparation
The sun dried brown seaweed was soaked
for 24 h in order to remove all the epyphites
including salt and sand that attached to the
surface. The sample was washed thoroughly
with tap water, drained and followed by
drying.
26

Drying procedure
The frozen seaweeds were thawed before
being cut manually with scissors into a
uniform size (1 cm x 1 cm), so that size
difference would not affect drying time.
Approximately 100 g of seaweed was
weighed and placed on a flat tray and dried
in a hot air oven at different temperatures of
40, 65 and 90 °C. The dried samples were
then grinded by using Ultra Centrifugal Mill
(Retch ZM200) with particle sizes 0.25 mm
at 8000 rpm to get the powder. The dry
solids content for each temperature was
determined by using moisture analyser
(HB43 Halogen Moisture Analyser, Mettler
Toledo).
Total lipid contents
Total lipid (TL) contents were determined
according to the method of Dedi et al.
(2011). The TL in the dried seaweed for
each drying temperature were extracted
overnight with methanol (1:10 w/v) and
shaken during the extraction time to ensure
complete extraction. The extracts were
filtered using filter paper (Whatman No.4
paper). The residue was re-extracted by
repeating the above steps under the same
conditions until the extraction solvents
became colourless. The filtrates were
pooled, placed in the rotary evaporator and
the methanol was evaporated from the
supernatants at 50 mm Hg pressure and
30 °C. TL in the form of viscous green
residue was weighed, re-dissolved in
methanol and stored at -20 °C until further
analysis. TL was used for further analysis of
fucoxanthin content. All the extractions were
carried out under dim light.
Fucoxanthin analysis by HPLC
The methods of Maeda et al. (2005) and
Dedi et al. (2011) were adopted for
fucoxanthin content determination by
reversed-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC). All RP-
HPLC experiments were carried out using
Waters 2695 HPLC system equipped with
I. Norra, A. Aminah, R. Suri and J. Arif Zaidi
photo diode-array spectrophotometric
detector (Waters 2996) at 28 °C using
Genesis C18 column (4 µm particle size,
0.46 cm internal diameter x 25 cm in
length.). The mobile phase was methanol-
acetonitrile (70:30, v/v). The flow rate was
1.0 ml/min. the detector was set at 450 for
detecting fucoxanthin (Dedi et al. 2011; Yan
et al. 1999; Maeda et al. 2005). Briefly, an
aliquot of TL was dissolved in the mobile
phase, filtered with a 0.2 µm membrane
filter, and an aliquot of the filtered sample
was submitted to HPLC analysis. The
amount of fucoxanthin content in seaweed
samples was quantified from the peak area
using a standard curve prepared from
standard fucoxanthin (y = 73.342x – 0.075,
R2 = 0.9996) and were expressed as mg/g dry
weight. All measurement was done in
triplicate for each extract.
Determination of total phenolic content
All dried powders were extracted with non-
boiled distilled water (40 °C) for 3 h using
temperature controlled shaking water bath
with continuous shaking to ensure complete
extraction and boiled distilled water for
10 min (double boiled technique). The
extracts were filtered and the filtrates were
subjected to the TPC and AOA assays. The
TPC in the extract was determined using
Folin-Ciocalteau reagent (Singleton and
Rossi 1965) with some modifications. Fresh
weight of each sample were converted into
dry weights on the basis of the moisture
content. Each of the aqueous extract (100 µl)
was transferred into a test tube and then
mixed thoroughly with 0.5 ml Folin-
Ciocalteau reagent (prediluted 10-fold with
distilled water). After mixing for 5 min,
1.0 ml of 7.5% (w/v) sodium carbonate was
added. The mixtures were agitated with a
vortex mixer, and then allowed to stand in
the dark for 120 min at ambient temperature.
The absorbance of the non-boiled and boiled
water extracts and a prepared blank were
27
Effect of drying temperature
measured at 765 nm using a
spectrophotometer (UV-vis model
50 Probe). The TPC was expressed as mg
gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g dry weight
which was determined from known
concentrations of gallic acid standard
prepared similarly. Data were reported as a
mean ± standard deviation for three
replications.
Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)
The ferric reducing power of the SDP
extracts was determined by using potassium
ferricyanide–ferric chloride method (Oyaizu
1986). An amount of 1 ml of extracts were
added to 2.5 ml 0.2 M phosphate buffer (pH
6.6) and 2.5 ml potassium ferricyanide (1%).
The mixtures were incubated at 50 °C for 20
min, after which 2.5 ml trichloroacetic acid
(10%) was added. A total of two and one
half milliliters of the mixture was taken and
mixed with 2.5 ml water and 0.5 ml 1%
FeCl3. The absorbance at 700 nm was
measured after allowing the solution to stand
for 30 min. The FRAP value was expressed
in mg trolox equivalent (TE)/g dry weight.
Determination of free radical scavenging
activity
The hydrogen atom or electron donation
ability of the corresponding extracts and
some pure compounds was measured from
the bleaching of purple coloured methanol
solution of DPPH. This spectrophotometric
assay uses stable radical 2, 2-diphenyl- 1-
picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) as a reagent,
according to a slightly modified method of
Blois (1958). 100 µl of the extracts was
added to 2.9 ml of a 0.004% methanol
solution of DPPH. After a 120 min
incubation period at room temperature, the
absorbance was read against a blank at
517 nm. The percentage of inhibition of free
radical DPPH by the extracts was calculated
as follows:
Inhibition (%) = (Ablank – Asample /Ablank) x 100
Where Ablank is the absorbance of the control
reaction (containing all reagents except the
test compound), and Asample is the absorbance
of the test compound.
Statistical analysis
Each of the measurements described above
was conducted in triplicate and the mean
data ± SD (standard deviation) were
reported. The data collected were
statistically analysed using the Statistical
Analysis Software (SAS) package (version
9.1.2 of SAS Institute, Inc. Cary, NC, 2008).
Statistically significant differences (p <0.05)
in the antioxidant properties of the samples
were determined by one way analysis of
variance (ANOVA). Duncan Multiple Range
Test (DMRT) was used to determine
significant differences between the means.
Results
Total lipid and fucoxanthin content
The total lipid (TL) and fucoxanthin content
of three different drying temperatures are
presented in Table 1. The amount of TL
(15.17 mg/g dry-weight) and fucoxanthin
content (1.50 mg/g dry-weight) of powder
dried at 90 °C were significantly higher
(p <0.05) than those dried at 40 °C (10.61
and 0.79 mg/g dry-weight, respectively), and
at 65 °C (12.66 and 1.09 mg/g dry-weight,
respectively). The amounts of TL content
among all treatment are between 10.6 to
15.2 mg/g dry-weight. These results in
agreement with the results obtained from one
of two species of Malaysian brown
seaweeds, Sargassum binderi (16.60 mg/g
dry-weight) compared to Sargassum
duplicatum (21.30 mg/g dry-weight) that
have been reported by Dedi et al. (2011).
The fucoxanthin content from this study was
also similar with the result obtained for
S. binderi (0.73 mg/g dry-weight) and
S. duplicatum (1.01 mg/g dry-weight) that
was reported by Dedi et al. (2011). In
addition, the HPLC chromatogram of
28

fucoxanthin from Sargassum sp. extract at
different drying temperature showed only
one major peak with a retention time of
about 4.2 min (Figure 1).
Total phenolic content
Phenolic compounds can contribute mainly
to the overall antioxidant capacity. Phenolic
compound can exhibit antioxidant activity
by inactivating lipid free radicals or
preventing decomposition of hydroperoxides
into free radicals (Pokorny 2001). Marine
seaweed extracts, especially polyphenols,
have high antioxidant activities (Hong-Yu et
al. 2010). The Folin-Ciocalteau method is a
rapid and widely-used assay to investigate
the total phenolic content but different
phenolic compounds have different
responses to this method
(Kahkonen et al. 1999).
The TPC values summarised in
Table 2 were quantified by using Folin
Ciocalteau method with gallic acid standard
curve, adjusted to a linear equation
y = 5.7657x - 0.0242 with a coefficient of
correlation R2 = 0.9998. Seaweed powder
dried at 90 °C for non-boiled and boiled
water extract was found to have the highest
TPC (2.75 mg GAE/g dry-weight and
1.13 mg GAE/mg dry-weight, respectively)
compared to those dried at 40 °C or 65 °C,
even though there is no significant difference
(p <0.05) between the powders dried at
65 °C and 90 °C for boiled water extract.
Antioxidant activity assay
Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)
The AOA for FRAP assay was determined
based on the ability of the antioxidant
components in the samples to reduce ferric
(III) to ferrous (II) in a redox-linked
colourimetric reaction (Li et al. 2006) that
involves single electron transfer. Table 3
shows that powder extract dried at 90 °C had
the highest ability for reducing Fe3+ for both
I. Norra, A. Aminah, R. Suri and J. Arif Zaidi
non-boiled and boiled water extracts with
mean values 9.19 and 17.05 mg TE/g dry
weight, respectively, compared to powder
dried at 40 °C (7.81 and 15.04 mg TE/g dry-
weight, respectively) or (65 °C 8.57 and
16.49 mg TE/g dry-weight, respectively).
However, there was no significant
different (p <0.05) between powder dried at
65 °C and 90 °C for boiling water extracts as
was the TPC. Nevertheless, the reducing
ability of boiled water extract for all
treatments increased more than 50%
compared to non-boiled water extracts.
DPPH radical scavenging
The main characteristic of an antioxidant is
its ability to trap free radicals. DPPH is
widely used to test the ability of the
antioxidative compounds functioning as
proton radical scavengers or hydrogen
donors (Singh and Rajini 2004). The
percentage scavenging activity of each
extract against DPPH is shown in Table 3.
Significant differences in the activities
among powder at different drying
temperature were observed within non-
boiled and boiled water extracts. The powder
of Sargassum sp. dried at 90 °C indicated
strong free radical scavenging effects for
non-boiled and boiled water extracts
(18.75% and 81.24% respectively). The
lowest percentage of free radical scavenging
was observed for the powder dried at 40 °C
for both non-boiled (10.54%) and boiled
water extract (73.57%). However, there was
no significant difference between boiling
water extracts of powders dried at 65 °C
(80.27%) and 90 °C (81.24%). However
there was an increase about 80% of
scavenging activity for boiled water extracts
compared to non-boiled extract.
29
Effect of drying temperature

Table 1. Total lipid and fucoxanthin content of Sargassum sp. dried powder under
different temperatures

Oven drying temperature Total lipid Fucoxanthin content

(°C) (mg/g dry weight) (mg/g dry weight)
40 10.61 ± 0.26c 0.79 ± 0.03c
65 12.66 ± 0.62b 1.09 ± 0.02b
90 15.17 ± 0.61a 1.50 ± 1.11a
Data was expressed as mean ± SD, each value is a mean of triplicate reading.
Means with the same letter are not significantly different ( p >0.05)

Figure 1. HPLC chromatogram of fucoxanthin from Sargassum sp. extract at three

different drying temperatures  

30  
 
 I. Norra, A. Aminah, R. Suri and J. Arif Zaidi

Table 2. TPC values of non-boiled and boiled of seaweed aqueous extract expressed
as gallic acid equivalent (GAE)

Oven drying temperature (°C) TPC (mg GAE/g dry-weight)

Non-boiled Boiled
bB
40 0.97 ± 0.03 2.52 ± 0.11bA
65 1.05 ± 0.07abB 2.72 ± 0.03aA
90 1.13 ± 0.02aB 2.75 ± 0.02aA
Data was expressed as mean ± SD, each value is a mean of triplicate reading (n = 3).
Means within a column with the same lower case letters are not significantly
different (p >0.05). Means within a row with the same upper case letters are not
significantly different (p >0.05)

Table 3. AOA values of non-boiled and boiled of aqueous extract of Malaysia brown seaweed,
Sargassum sp.

Oven drying Antioxidant activity (AOA)

temperature (°C)
FRAP (mg TE/g dw) DPPH (% inhibition)

Non-boiled Boiled Non-boiled Boiled

40 7.81 ± 0.48bB 15.04 ± 0.64bA 10.54 ± 1.41cB 73.57 ± 0.32bA

65 8.57 ± 0.23abB 16.49 ± 0.28aA 13.77 ± 0.50bB 80.27 ± 2.25aA

90 9.19 ± 0.43aB 17.05 ± 0.66aA 18.75 ± 1.09aB 81.24 ± 4.51aA

Data was expressed as mean ± SD, each value is a mean of triplicate reading (n = 3). Means within a
column with the same lower case letters are not significantly different (p >0.05). Means within a row
with the same upper case letters are not significantly different (p >0.05)

31
 

 
Effect of drying temperature
Discussion
Phenolic compounds structurally involve an
aromatic ring that bears one or more
hydroxyl substituents; they range from
simple phenolic molecules to highly
polymerised compounds. Despite this
structural diversity, the group of compounds
is often referred to as polyphenols. Different
authors indicate wide variations between the
total phenolic content of different fruits or
even for the same fruit. These differences
may be due to the complexity of these
groups of compounds as well as the methods
of extraction and analysis (Jessica Lopez et
al. 2013). Polyphenols such as phlorotannins
(Zou et al. 2008) and carotenoid pigments
such as fucoxanthin (Airanthi et al. 2011) are
two of bioactive compounds which have
been isolated and identified from brown
seaweeds. Fucoxanthin and phlorotannins
have been identified as active antioxidant
compounds from Hijika fusiformis (Yan et
al. 1999) and Sargassum kjellamanianum
(Yan et al. 1996), respectively. The phenol
rings in polyphenolic compounds act as
electron traps and are responsible for the
multifunctional antioxidant properties such
as scavenging of hydroxyl radicals, peroxy
radicals or superoxides. A high correlation
between the total phenolic content and
antioxidant activity has reported by many
researchers (Athukorala et al. 2003; Chew et
al. 2008; Rajauria et al. 2010; Siriwardhana
et al. 2003 and Wang et al. 2009).
The present study was focused on the
influence of different oven drying
temperature on the fucoxanthin content, TPC
and AOA of Malaysian brown seaweed,
Sargassum sp. According to Mrad et al.
(2012), a decrease in TPC during drying can
also be attributed to the binding of
polyphenols with other compounds
(proteins) or to alterations in the chemical
structure of polyphenols which cannot be
extracted or determined by available
methods. It is generally considered that
drying and extraction at a high temperature
will lead to a degradation of some bioactive
compounds. However some researchers have
demonstrated that this is not always true,
especially with regard to the polyphenols
with antioxidant activity. Rajauria et al.
(2010) investigated the effect of heat
processing on the level of phenolic
compounds and antioxidant capacity of three
species of edible brown seaweeds from
Ireland. It was found that the overall
antioxidant capacities of all seaweeds tested
have been increased. This study was in
agreement with our findings. From our
study, results showed that higher
temperature resulted in a substantial increase
in certain phytochemical contents. An
increment of drying temperature from 40 °C
to 90 °C has increased fucoxanthin content,
TPC, ferric reducing ability and DPPH
radical scavenging assay. All AOA also have
increased in boiled seaweed dried powder
(SDP) as compared to non-boiled SDP
during extraction process. The formation of
phenolic compounds at high temperatures
(i.e., 90 °C) might be due to the availability
of phenolic precursor molecules through
non-enzymatic interconversion between
phenolic molecules (Jessica Lopez et al.
2013). As described by Durling et al. (2007)
and Silva et al. (2007) in their previous
reports, increasing the extraction
temperature has been found to enhance the
recovery of phenolic compounds. The
mechanism that maybe occur during
extraction is that the higher temperature will
promotes solvent extraction by enhancing
both diffusion coefficients and the solubility
of polyphenol content (Wan et al. 2011). In
addition, increasing extraction temperature
will contribute to the release of bound
polyphenols in plants with the breakdown of
cellular constituents of plant cells which
leads to increased cell membrane
permeability. Moreover, release of these
bound polyphenols could further reduce the
chances of those polyphenols to coagulate
with lipoprotein. Thereby, enhancing
32

solubility of polyphenols and inhibiting
coagulation with lipoprotein will increase
polyphenols yield (Wan et al. 2011).
Effects of heat processing on
fucoxanthin pigments from Sargassum sp.
might also contributed to these findings.
Like other carotenoids, fucoxanthin is a fat
soluble compound. Fucoxanthin has an
unusual allenic bond and 5,6-monoepoxide
in its molecule that contribute to its unique
structure. Isomerisation is a common feature
of carotenoids due to the presence of
conjugated double bonds in their structures.
Factors that contribute to cis-trans
isomerisation are light, thermal energy,
chemical reactions and interaction with
biological molecules such as proteins.
Generally the trans isomers of carotenoids
are more common in foods and are more
stable as compared to their cis counterparts
(Nakazawa et al. 2009). During drying
process, there are several factors that can
affect fucoxanthin content such as
degradation of all-trans and cis-isomer
fucoxanthin, isomerisation from all-trans to
cis-isomer fucoxanthin, and more efficient
extraction of fucoxanthin from the seaweed
matrix. High temperature can break down
cell walls and release more fucoxanthin from
seaweed matrix. Therefore, by releasing
more fucoxanthin content during drying and
extraction, the antioxidant capacity that may
be related to the amount of fucoxanthin and
TPC will be increased since both of these
compounds act as scavengers of the free
radicals produced during oxidation reactions
(Di Scala et al. 2011).
These mechanisms can be equated
with the study on lycopene content as
reported by Shi et al. (2008). Lycopene may
be expected to undergo two major changes
during processing and storage: isomerisation
from all-trans to mono-cis or poly-cis forms
and oxidation. The all-trans-isomer of
lycopene is the most predominant
geometrical isomer in fruits and vegetables
(about 94 – 96% of total lycopene in red
I. Norra, A. Aminah, R. Suri and J. Arif Zaidi
tomato fruit) and is the most
thermodynamically stable form. One of the
possible reasons for this trend could be the
effect of extractability of lycopene in tomato
matrix. The tomato cell walls were not
completely disrupted during the tomato
puree preparation. Therefore, for the cells
that were disrupted, lower temperatures
(as 80 °C) could be enough to release
lycopene. On the other hand, for the cells
that were not disrupted during the puree
preparation, for example, the cells of tomato
skin, a longer heating treatment time or
higher temperature may be needed to disrupt
the cell walls sufficiently to release most of
the lycopene from cells. Therefore, longer
heating time at 100 °C, or higher
temperature (120 °C) may increase the
extraction yield of lycopene in tomato puree
(Shi et al. 2008).
According to Anese et al. (1999),
heating tomato juice at 95 °C for more than
3 or 4 h had increased the antioxidant
potential of the juice due to the formation of
Maillard reaction products (MRP), which
have antioxidant activity. The protective
effect of MRP could be another possible
reason for the increase of lycopene during
the 100 °C heating treatment. Maillard
reaction will also to be considered for
another factors contributed to our findings.
Besides that, the increasing temperature
could also be related to the developmental
changes and wound-like response due to
drying. Dixon and Paiva (1995) reported that
plants respond to wounding with increase in
phenolic compounds, which involved in the
repair of wound damage. The generation and
accumulation of compounds with a varying
degree of antioxidant activity during heat
processing could also develop antagonistic
or synergistic effects between themselves or
with the other constituents, which could be
another possible reason for the increasing on
certain phytochemical during heat
processing. These complex chemical
interactions that influence functional
33
Effect of drying temperature
properties of Sargasssum sp. during drying
and extraction at high temperature need to be
further investigated.
Conclusion
The study showed that the polyphenol and
antioxidant activities of seaweed Sargassum
species from Semporna Sabah, Malaysia
were influenced by different drying
temperatures. Fucoxanthin, TPC and
antioxidant activities were found high if
dried at higher temperature. The increasing
of FRAP and DPPH-RSA were proportional
to TPC. The highest phenolic content and
antioxidant activity was found in the
seaweed which dried at 90 °C and extracted
with boiled water. High phytochemical
content at high drying temperature (90 °C)
could be an important starting step for
seaweed processing. With the ascertained
antioxidant activity of this brown seaweed,
optimisation on the extraction conditions
from Sargassum sp. should be carried out by
using response surface methodology (RSM).
Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges with gratitude the
financial support given by Malaysian
Agricultural Research and Development
Institute (MARDI) and special thanks to the
Seaweed Downstream Research Centre
(SDRC) and School of Chemical Sciences
and Food Technology, Faculty of Science
and Technology, UKM for this opportunity.
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Abstrak
Kajian ini dijalankan untuk menilai pengaruh suhu pengeringan yang berbeza ke atas
kandungan fukozantin, kandungan fenolik dan aktiviti antioksidan pada rumpai laut
perang Malaysia, Sargassum sp. Rumpai laut perang dikeringkan pada suhu 40, 65
dan 90 °C. Semua serbuk rumpai laut kering diukur jumlah lipid dan kandungan
fukozantin. Ekstrak air tanpa didih dan didih pula dianalisis untuk jumlah kandungan
fenolik (TPC) menggunakan kaedah Folin-Ciocalteu dan aktiviti antioksida
menggunakan asai aktiviti penurunan antioksidan ferric serta skaveng radikal 2, 2-
phenyl-1-picrylhydrazil. Keputusan yang diperoleh daripada kajian ini menunjukkan
bahawa peningkatan suhu pengeringan, kandungan fukozantin, TPC dan juga aktiviti
antioksidan rumpai laut perang kering ini juga turut meningkat secara signifikan
(p <0.05) pada ekstrak yang dididih. Rumpai laut perang yang dikeringkan pada suhu
90 °C memberikan kandungan fukozantin dan aktiviti antioksidan yang paling tinggi.

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