Review of Temperature Pre-Treatment Methods in The Preparation of Eucheuma Cottonii Seedlings for Transportation Engineering

This study aimed to evaluate various temperature pre-treatment strategies for preparing E. cottonii seedlings within a transportation engineering framework. The experiment was conducted from June - September 2025 at the Marine and Terrestrial Bioindustry Research Center, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia. A factorial Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was employed, involving two factors: temperature treatment (S) and transportation duration (W). The temperature factor consisted of five levels based on the number of ice packs applied: 0 (S1), 1 (S2), 2 (S3), 3 (S4), and 4 (S5). Transportation duration comprised three levels: 12 hours (W1), 24 hours (W2), and 36 hours (W3). The initial weight of the seedlings was standardized at 120 g. Observed parameters included weight loss, storage temperature, seedling color characteristics, and salinity content. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS, followed by Duncan’s multiple range test. The results demonstrated that single-factor temperature treatments (S), transportation duration (W), and their interaction (S×W) significantly affected absolute weight loss, storage temperature, and all color parameters of E. cottonii seedlings. However, none of these treatments exerted a significant effect on seedling salinity. The interaction between four ice packs and a 12 h transportation period (S5W1) was identified as the optimal treatment, as it best preserved seedling color performance, with lightness (L*) of 23.3±0.01, redness (a*) of −0.2±0.12, and yellowness (b*) of 7.5±0.07. Despite these advantages, this treatment also resulted in a relatively high weight loss (25.4±0.5 g), likely due to cold shock induced by a substantial reduction in styrofoam container temperature to 24.2±0.09°C. In contrast, seedling salinity remained statistically unchanged across all treatment combinations, ranging from 3.75±0.2% to 3.76±0.28%