Studies On The Gel Strength Of Red Seaweed Extract, Gracillaria verrucosa From South Sulawesi

The worldwide production of gelling agent agar mainb relies on marine algae of the class Rhodophyceae - Gracilariales and Gelidiales. Agar is hydrophilic colloidi\ud composed of polysaccharides, agarose and agaropectine, which have strong gelling ability for many applications on pharmaceutical Industries. This study conductea th" potential of seaweed extracts Gracillaria venucosa from South Sulawesi based on the gel sirength characteristic for pharmaceutical purposes, particularly the rnaterial of hard capsule shells. Gracillaria verrucosa collected from Sinjai, Takalar and Palopo in South Sulawesi was extracted using acid extraction procedures and the gel strength of the extracts were determined\ud using Nikhan Shee set. The gel strength values of Gracillaria verucosa extract from Sinjai, Takalar and Palopo are ll0 g/cm2,163 g/cn*,250 glcr* respectively. Among these three\ud regions, the extract collected from Takalar and Palopo are eligible to be used as hard capsule shell material due to their gel strength characteristics. None of these e)ffracts meets\ud the export standard requirements for widely-used industrial production