Estimation of Amino Acids, Mineralsand Other Chemical Compositions of Azolla Roy D. C.1,*, Pakhira M.C.1, Roy M.2 1Dept. of ILFC, WBUAFS, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252 2Dept. of Animal Genetics & Breeding, WBUAFS, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252 *email: dcroy09@gmail.com
Online published on 15 December, 2016. Abstract Azolla ‘the green gold mine’ of the nature is a symbiotic association of Azolla-Anabaena in which the endophytic blue-green alga Anabaena zollae lives within the leaf cavities of the water fern Azolla (Lain). The representative samples of Azolla (Azolla pinnata Lain.) was analyzedfor estimation of various minerals and proximate principles i.e. moisture, crude protein, ether extract, crude fibre, total ash etc. Amino acids content of Azolla was also estimated through gas chromatography and capillary electrophoresis by wet chemistry (hydrolysis) method. Azolla contained 8.0% dry matter (DM), 24.61% crude protein (CP), 15% crude fibre (CF), 43.8% neutral detergent fibre (NDF), 31.80% acid detergent fibre (ADF), 3.8% ethyle extract (EE), 11.4% lignin, 4.1% starch and 15.9% total ash on dry matter basis. The amount of calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and magnesium in Azolla were 11.0, 6.1, 17.4, 9.0 and 5.0 g/kg dry matter while the content of trace minerals like manganese, zinc, copper and iron were 0.76, 0.038, 0.016 and 3.90 mg/kg of dry matter respectively, indicating to be a rich source of micro nutrients. Out of 18 nos. of amino acids in Azolla, glutamic acid gave the highest amount of 12.6% followed by aspartic acid (9.3%), leucine (8.4%), alanine (6.4%), arginine (5.9%), glycine (5.6%) and valine (5.5%). However, the amount of cystine was found lowest (1.6%) followed by tryptophan (1.8%). Top Keywords Azolla, CP, CF, NDF, ADF, minerals, amino acid. Top |