THE HORMESIS OF THE GREEN MACROALGA ULVA FASCIATA WITH LOW-DOSE (60) COBALT GAMMA RADIATION(1).

Homogenous germlings of the marine macroalga Ulva fasciata D. (synonym, Ulva lactuca L.) were used to study hormesis effects in macroalgae grown under a low dose of (60) Co γ-ray radiation. The results of this study are the first to confirm the effects of macroalgal hormesis. Here it was demonstrated that growth of U. fasciata germlings was promoted substantially under 15 Gy of (60) Co γ-ray radiation, with an average increase of algal biomass of 47.43%. The levels of polysaccharides and lipids varied among the tested material and showed no effects from the (60) Co γ-ray radiation. However, the amount of protein was higher in the irradiated algae than in the control; the highest protein content of the irradiated algae was 3.958% (dry weight), in contrast to 2.318% in nonirradiated samples. This technique was applied to a field algal mass culture, which decreased the harvest time from 90 to 60 d. The mass culture approach may facilitate the production of macroalgae under unstable weather conditions such as typhoons in the summer or strong waves in the winter. The mass-cultured macroalgae could be used as a source of bioenergy through the fermentation of algal simple sugars that derived from polysaccharides to produce ethanol.