Growth of Brown Algae, Padina Australis, in the Coastal Waters of Serei Village, West Likupang District, North Minahasa Regency

Abstract

Marine algae is one resource that has important economic value because it has cagar, carrageen and alginate ontent (Indriani and Sumiarsih, 1999). In the world of science, the word algae comes from the Greek , algor which means cold (Nontji, 2002). Padina australis is a species of marine algae belong to Phaeophyta Division (brown algae) which is commonly found in marine waters, from shallow to deep waters. This algae has a wide transparent brown sheet or filament shape. This study was aimed to observe the growth of algae P. australis by using case study method where samples of Padina algae taken from nature were placed into basket as container for culturing. While the technique used is cultivation using basket; in order to determine the growth, algae was analyzed further by measuring the maximum weight of P. australis living without substrate. Some environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, depth and tides were recorded to see their impact on the growth of P. australis. Serei village is the location of the research on the growth of this P. australis. The result also records that P. australis can only live about three weeks and after that die. The growth of P. australis was greatest in the 8th container weighing 23 gr