## 3 Results
### Biochemical Profiling
#### 3.1.4 Elemental Composition  
The phosphorus, chlorine and potassium contents varied significantly among the samples, with _M. pyrifera_ and the residual pulp standing out with the highest values. The phosphorus content was 5.29 \(\pm\) 0.03 mg\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) in _M. pyrifera_ and 4.05 \(\pm\) 0.26 mg\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) in the residual pulp. Chlorine showed values of 77.97 \(\pm\) 0.65 mg\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) in _M. pyrifera_ and 22.67 \(\pm\) 1.95 mg\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) in _S. polyschides_, also with statistically significant differences (H\({}^{2}\)(3) = 9.974, \(p\) < 0.019). As for potassium, the highest concentration was found in _M. pyrifera_ (67.72 \(\pm\) 0.62 mg\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\)) and the lowest in _S. polyschides_ (6.03 \(\pm\) 0.44 mg\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\)). Calcium showed the lowest concentration in _M. pyrifera_ with 3.61 \(\pm\) 0.05 mg\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) and the highest in _S. polyschides_ with 11.7 \(\pm\) 0.74 mg\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\). As far as the microelements are concerned, again there were large variations among samples, with iron showing the highest value in _M. pyrifera_ with 646.33 \(\pm\) 143.79 \(\mu\)g\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\), zinc registering the highest concentration in _S. polyschides_ with 33.33 \(\pm\) 2.52 \(\mu\)g\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\), while copper and arsenic showed the highest values in _M. pyrifera_  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline  & _L. ochroleuca_ & _S. polyschides_ & _M. pyrifera_ & **Residual Pulp** \\ \hline  & & Fresh Samples (\(\mu\)g\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) fw) & & \\ \hline Fucoxanthin & 439.93 \(\pm\) 30.32 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 695.48 \(\pm\) 22.51 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & - & - \\ Chlorophyll \(a\) & 2599.38 \(\pm\) 701.51 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 4218.74 \(\pm\) 93.53 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & - & - \\ Chlorophyll \(c\) & 681.34 \(\pm\) 159.54 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 965.62 \(\pm\) 127.39 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & - & - \\ \hline  & & Dried Samples (\(\mu\)g\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) dw) & & \\ \hline Fucoxanthin & 142.12 \(\pm\) 3.31 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 111.34 \(\pm\) 4.99 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 56.71 \(\pm\) 1.38 \({}^{\mathrm{d}}\) & 157.52 \(\pm\) 2.71 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \\ Chlorophyll \(a\) & 26.59 \(\pm\) 1.93 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 22.18 \(\pm\) 2.47 \({}^{\mathrm{a,b}}\) & 19.27 \(\pm\) 3.17 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 16.63 \(\pm\) 2.33 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \\ Chlorophyll \(c\) & 2.95 \(\pm\) 0.09 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 2.66 \(\pm\) 0.32 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 0.69 \(\pm\) 0.07 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 0.15 \(\pm\) 0.08 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 4: Concentrations of fucoxanthin, chlorophyll \(a\) and chlorophyll \(c\) in fresh and dried samples of the three seaweed species under study and the residual kelp pulp. Data are presented as mean \(\pm\) standard deviation (_t_ = 3). Different superscript lowercase letters (\({}^{\mathrm{a,b,c,d}}\)) indicate statistically significant differences between different samples for _p_-value < 0.05.  
with 8.00 \(\pm\) 1.00 \(\upmu\)g\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) and with 55.67 \(\pm\) 4.16 \(\upmu\)g\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\), respectively. It should also be noted that arsenic was detected at high concentrations in all samples (Table 5).