Question

Commercial product "Agar " which is used in " ice creams" and to grow microbes in the laboratory is extracted from

• A. Laminaria and Ploysiphonia
• B. Porphyra and Sargassum
• C. Gelidium and Gracilaria
• D. Marchantia and Polytrichum

Answer 1

The correct option is C Gelidium and Gracilaria

Agar is a dried or gel-like unbranched polysaccharide which accumulates in the cell walls of red algae. The main sources of agar are thalli of Gelidium, Gracilaria and Gigartina. For commercial purposes, it is derived primarily from Gelidium amansii.

Agar is used as a gelling and thickening agent in the food industry for the preparation of puddings, jams, jellies etc., as a stabilizer for mayonnaise and as an emulsifying agent in ice-creams.

So, the answer is C.