Microalgae, the great sustainable accelerator of agricultural efficiency

Microalgae are small worlds of photosynthetic unicellular organisms that can improve agricultural activity. One of the areas of research is its potential in biofertilization given its wealth in essential nutrients. By applying to the ground or plants, they can favor fertility and promote growth. Another study line focuses on bioremediation: they help clean contaminated soils, because some species have the ability to absorb heavy metals and other pollutants.

In Spain, one of the leading companies is Biorizon Biotech. Their innovations in bio -stimulants and bioplagicides are designed to improve agricultural productivity sustainably. Sergio Aguilar, his General Manager, explains that “the use of selected microalgae strains to produce products rich in biomolecules and substances of high biological value for the development of plants is a great advance in biotechnology within agriculture.”

But can microalgae revolutionize agricultural practices? Aguilar estimates that as part of the development of biosmatic and bioprotectors, natural and without chemical waste, “they are called to be the solution to many challenges and problems of our crops today and in the most immediate future.”

“Bio -stimulants,” says Biorizon Biotech’s general manager, “constitute the present and future of agriculture, the opportunity to provide solutions to the challenges that our crops face in increasing its productivity, its quality and doing so in the midst of a constant climate change.”

On bioplagidides from microalgae, he believes that “they are a necessity for humanity, because we need to eat foods exempt from chemical waste if we want to protect and improve our health while our farmers have tools again to fight against pests and increasingly resistant and aggressive diseases.”

Positive impact

To biofertilization and bioremediation it must be added that it is a sustainable technology, with a negative carbon footprint. These techniques are novel, but its implementation in the market has still quite traveling. In the case of Biorizon Biotech, it was a pioneer in Spain and has been just 15 years of history. «Today we are growing above 50% per year and we hope to accelerate in the coming years; We have a presence in about 70 countries on the five continents, ”says Aguilar. The firm’s porpholio details its manager, includes “high quality nutritional products in its formulation, innovative biosmulants based on high knowledge in plant physiology and high efficiency bioprotectors.” “The vast majority are supported by the new microalgae technology, pure advanced biotechnology,” he adds.

The ecosystem of the use of microalgae as ‘agitators’ of agricultural production has relevant actors, one of them is the Spanish Association of Bioempresses (ASEBIO), which concentrates the interests of companies, associations, foundations, universities and technological and research centers in the field of biotechnology in Spain and energizes the efforts of all the parties involved. Other protagonists are the scientific communities that rehearse different solutions to accelerate the use of microalgae in the world of agriculture. He Spanish Algae Bankfor example, it is a laboratory of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) that for 35 years develops lines of work in the field of biotechnology of macroalgas and microalgae.

Its scientific director, Juan Luis Gómez Pinchetti, indicates that research has determined that “certain types of components in algae are capable of, on the one hand, stimulate plant growth and benefit growth, and on the other hand, they also have antimicrobial activity.”

Microalgae have applications in different sectors – human and animal consumption, cosmetics, biomedicine, agriculture (biopesticides) and ecosystem services. Gómez Pinchetti argues that “through algae cultivation systems, we can also work with wastewater bioremediation or climate change mitigation.”

The director of the Bank of Algae clarifies that in the field of microalgae “the term bioestimulation is related to the addition of certain types of hormones, but we identify other types of metabolites that are also able to stimulate the growth of plants.” «Some type of polysaccharides have a Positive effect In growth plants. We also work with antioxidant substances that exert a beneficial effect on the development of the seeds ».

The expert confesses that the investigation has much ahead: «The knowledge we have is still very recent. In fact, we are still identifying new species. In our laboratory, we have a collection of microalgae and cyanobacteria crops, which is a taxonomic group of organisms that are included within the microalgae term. We have More than 2,000 strains with a very interesting biotechnological potential. We follow two lines, one the conservation of biodiversity and another the biotechnological potential ». “We analyze their potential value to generate compounds that stimulate plants growth, which also show antimicrobial or biopesticide activity and that somehow favor the development of agricultural applications,” he emphasizes.

Circular economy

Another research center is Neiker, the Basque Institute of Agrarian Research and Development, which uses effluents of the Hydroponic of the Horticultural Industry and Salmuelas of the Tuna canning industries as a culture medium for the production of microalgae. According to Miriam Pinto, a researcher at the Natural Resources Conservation Department, the microalgae they choose have two interesting functions: «On the one hand, they absorb all the nutrients that were in these residual currents and clean the effluents. And on the other, the biomass generated can be used as biofertilizers or bio -stimulants. Once harvested, they are used directly or hydrolyzed so that the molecules are more affordable and exploited as biobasted fertilizers ». With this process, nitrogen, phosphorus, synthesis or petroleum derivatives, which in the European case depends on 80% of third -party countries fertilizers, could be replaced. “Being able to obtain an extra match from our own waste to feed our agriculture is more economical, sustainable and, from a strategic, safer point of view,” explains Pinto.

Neiker’s investigations are framed in the Real-Mac European project, a program focused on the Pyrenees. In this case there are representatives of Catalonia, the Basque Country and the regions in France of Aquitaine and Western. Four technological centers participate: the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Neiker, Qatar and Asa. “Everyone works with different residual currents,” he said. The French of Apesa, with remains of fish sludge, and the UPC with brewer waste. Catar performs hydrolyst.

The attempt to use microalgae in agricultural development is due to the commitment to the circular economy, Pinto considers: «If there is a sector that should be able to afford to be circular, that is the primary. Because most of the things it generates can return, in many cases, again to the cultivation systems, from the excreta of the animals to the effluents of some of the processes ».

But is there a certain reluctance in the world of agriculture to take advantage of the benefits that can involve the use of microalgae? For the researcher of the Niker Natural Resources Conservation Department, “in the case of biofertilizers, the factor of custom may be braking its acceleration, because it costs to use new products.” “And then that synthesis products, according to the time of year, can be cheaper,” he says.