The rhodophyte seaweed genus Gracilaria is fast replacing Gelidium in global agar trade. Recently, Gracilaria dura from Indian waters has emerged as species of choice due to its quality agarose. The triphasic life cycle provides an opportunity for selecting an elite cultivar. Here we report diversity pertaining to functional traits over 3 months (January, February and March) among two distinct life phases, the tetrasporophyte and the female gametophyte. It was evident that functional trait related to growth was distinct in tetrasporophytes than in female gametophytes; while those of survival (antioxidant, proximate composition and pigments) were prominent in female gametophytes. Both the lowest 3.42 ± 0.38% day⁻¹ (female gametophytes) and highest 5.17 ± 0. 21% day⁻¹ (terasporophytes) growth rates were in January with 33% higher growth in the latter. Of the survival traits, antioxidant potential ranged from 0.51 ± 0.08 to 1.1 ± 0.03 mg g⁻¹ FW ascorbic acid equivalent. Furthermore, female gametophytes collected in March reported 53.60%, 28.40% and 50.40% higher activity than the tetrasporophytes of January, February and March, respectively. The female gametophyte in March showed 23% and 19.40% higher protein content than the tetrasporophytes of January and February, respectively. Sixty-one metabolites were identified of which 29 were common, with sugars as the major portion (77.69% in February to 89.38% in January) and amine derivatives the least (0.30% in January to 0.51% in February). Studies of bio-ecophysiology of this alga are currently being undertaken by our group.

红藻藻类Gracilaria在全球琼脂贸易中正在迅速取代Gelidium。最近，由于其琼脂糖的品质，印度水域的硬皮杜鹃已经成为一种选择物种。三次生命周期为选择优良品种提供了机会。在这里，我们报告了三个不同生命阶段（四孢子植物和雌配子体）在三个月（一月，二月和三月）中与功能性状有关的多样性。显然，与雌配子体相比，四孢子植物与生长相关的功能性状是不同的。而女性配子体中的存活率（抗氧化剂，邻近成分和色素）突出。两者均为最低的3.42±0.38％天^-1（雌性配子体）和最高5.17±0。21％天^-1（terasporophytes）增长率在一月与后者高出33％的增长。在生存特征中，抗氧化剂潜力范围从0.51±0.08到1.1±0.03 mg g ^-1FW抗坏血酸当量。此外，3月份收集的雌配子体活性分别比1月，2月和3月的四孢子体高53.60％，28.40％和50.40％。3月的雌配子体分别比1月和2月的四孢子体高23％和19.40％。鉴定出了61种代谢物，其中29种是常见的，糖类占主要部分（2月为77.69％，1月为89.38％），胺衍生物最少（1月为0.30％，2月为0.51％）。我们小组目前正在对该藻类的生物生态生理学进行研究。