Microalgae polysaccharides bio-stimulating effect on tomato plants: growth and metabolic distribution

Publication date: Available online 31 January 2020Source: Biotechnology ReportsAuthor(s): Farid Rachidi, Redouane Benhima, Laila Sbabou, Hicham El ArroussiAbstractMicroalgae polysaccharides represent a potentially bioressource for the enhancement and the protection of agricultural crops. We investigate the possibility to use microalgae polysaccharides as a plant biostimulant. The crude polysaccharides extract (PS) from three microalgae strains were applied to Solanum lycopersicum plants by irrigation and compared basing on their effects on shoot and root length, nodes number and shoot and root dry weight. The application of 1 mg mL-1 PS from A. platensis, D. salina and Porphorydium sp on tomato plants improved significantly the nodes number (NN), shoot dry weight (SDW), and shoot length (SS) by75%, 46,6%, 25,26% compared to control respectively. Furthermore, crude PS treatment showed an improvement of carotenoid, chlorophyll and proteins content, and Nitrate Reductase (NR), NAD-Glutamate Dehydrogenase (NAD-GDH) activities in plants leaves compared to control. 1 mg mL-1 of Porphorydium sp enhanced significantly the carotenoid content and NAD-GDH activity by 400%, 200% compared to control respectively. In the same way, A. platensis PS improved chl a, chl b and NR activity by 90.1%, 102.7% and 88.34 compared to control respectively. In addition, it is found that a PS treatment has affected the protein content, which reaches 88.3% under 0.5 mg mL-1 of D. salina PS tre...

Source: Biotechnology Reports - February 1, 2020 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research