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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 5 AUGUST, 2018
CAMPUS NEWS
EIGHTY-SEVEN BILLION US DOLLARS
– that’s
how much market research firm, Global Market
Insights, says the global commercial seaweed industry
will be worth by 2024. Seaweed as food, as biofuel, in
agriculture, textile manufacturing, pharmaceutical
production, and even cosmetics, it has many profitable
uses. China, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan
dominate the industry, which produces over sixmillion
tonnes of seaweed per year. But it’s not enough to
meet world demand. In this market, Indonesia has
been increasing its seaweed production by 30 percent
per year.
Seaweed is an asset. For years it’s been invading the
coasts of the Caribbean, piling up on beaches, patiently
waiting for those with the capacity to recognise it for
what it is – opportunity.
“It is a gift,” says Professor Jayaraj Jayaraman,
Professor of Biotechnology and Plant Microbiology
at the Department of Life Sciences at St. Augustine’s
Faculty of Science and Technology.
The Professor is one of the driving forces behind
a tight team of researchers, among them Omar Ali, a
graduate student focused on tropical seaweeds. Omar,
whoseworkwas first highlighted inUWI Today in 2017
/
article19.asp), has achieved outstanding results using
seaweed as a biostimulant for agricultural crops. When
applied to tomato and sweet pepper plants, extracts
from three local seaweeds produced incredible growth
and disease resistance, far better results than that of
commercially available biostimulant products.
“It increased the yield and product quality very
significantly,” says Omar, speaking of the extract’s
effects. “It also reduced disease levels significantly
compared to the controls. By this way we can cut down
chemical use to one third or even more.”
The three seaweed types (one red, one brown and
one green) were used as the basis for products that
increased plant size by up to 60 percent, improved
yield up to 60 percent and suppressed disease by
up to 70 percent compared to the locally available
commercial biostimulants. “Our current focus is only
on those abundant ones; but there are few more rare
seaweed species which we have discovered are better
than the best reported anywhere in the world. But I’m
“It increased the yield and pro
It also
reduced disease levels sig
By this way we can
cut down che
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When
FEEDS T
Seaweed products boost pla
B Y J O E
careful not to tell you about those now,” laughs Prof.
Jayaraman.
“I was skeptical at first about the idea of using
seaweed as a biostimulant,” says Dr. Adesh Ramsubhag,
Head of the Department of Life Sciences, but when
they showed me these results, I felt this is the best way
to go. We vowed to thoroughly study the mechanisms
and roll out a product for crop use.”
The research team is justifiably excited. They have
created products with a level of performance that
surpasses what the imported alternatives offer. And
they say it will cost much less.
“About 40 to 50 percent less, and that is a
conservative estimate,” says Professor Jayaraman.
“The main raw material is free. It is waiting there on
the shore.”
At their lab in the Natural Sciences building,
Omar and Professor Jayaraman show samples of
the commercially available biostimulants on the
local market. One is made up almost completely of
chemicals. The other two are branded as seaweed
stimulants. The first lists seaweed as a 10 percent
proportion of its ingredients; the second, five percent.
The other ingredients include humic acid, nitrogen
phosphate, zinc, chemicals and more chemicals.
“It’s like an energy drink. It will give a short-term
boost,” Jayaraman says. “What we are offering is like a
nutritious meal. It has a long-term stabilizing effect.”
The team’s seaweed products contain at least 50
percent seaweed-based ingredients.
“It’s natural and organic,” Omar says.
The idea of using seaweed as a biostimulant is
not new. In North America, Ascophyllum, a brown
seaweed native to temperate climates, has been used
for some time for crop growth and health. In fact,
Professor Jayaraman has workedwith anAscophyllum-
based biostimulant manufacturers in Canada for more
than 10 years. It was based on this experience that he
recognised the potential for tropical seaweeds. The
UWI team’s research is not reinventing the wheel. It is
making the wheel with local materials. “Local seaweeds
are a bit tougher species though, but we found better
ways to derive a premium product which is as good
or even better than what you see imported from the
Americas and Europe”.
Fruit cluster comparison
SEAWEED TEAM:
Professor Jayaraj Jayaraman, postgraduate student Antonio
The other member is Omar Ali (in photo above).
When Omar Ali did his seminar presentation, he explained that the new products significantly improved plant biomass yield (up to 60%), they
improved produce yield (up to 50%) and enhanced the quality of the produce. They also significantly suppressed disease incidence (fungal, bacterial,
viral diseases and deficiency disorders) by up to 70%. The bigger cluster of tomatoes shown here is the one treated with the seaweed product.
