We undertook this commercial orchard trial in order to investigate whether the use of seaweed soil & foliar treatments had any effect on leaf size or shape and does its use effect fruit weight, brix or dry matter to any measurable or economic amount. We found that leaf area was significantly increased by 6.4% (p=0.027) and that this was due to increase in leaf length but not the width, thus altering the leaf shape (p=<0.001). The change to leaf size and shape does not appear to be related to any increase in leaf nutrient content, but it appears to be hormonally activated. When the leaf analysis nutrient content data was subjected to compositional data analysis (CODA) with isometric log ratios, we found that the treated vines had enhanced photosynthetic efficiency. Treatment with seaweed did significantly increase fruit weight by 7.3% (p=0.010) giving a NZ$3,000 per hectare advantage through using seaweed treatments.
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To meet carbon emissions targets, more than 30 countries have committed to boosting production of renewable resources from biological materials and convert them into products such as food, animal feed and bioenergy. In a post-fossil-fuel world, an increasing proportion of chemicals, plastics, textiles, fuels and electricity will have to come from biomass, which takes up land. To maintain current consumption trends the world will also need to produce 50–70% more food by 2050, increasingly under drought conditions and on poor soils. Depending on bioenergy policies, biomass use is expected to continue to rise to 2030 and imports to Europe are expected to triple by 2020. Europe is forecast to import 80 million tons of solid biomass per year by 2020 (Bosch et al. 2015).
Producing large volumes of seaweeds for human food, animal feed and biofuels could represent a transformational change in the global food security equation andin the way we view and use the oceans. In 2012, global production of seaweeds was approximately 3 million tons dry weight, and growing by 9% per annum. Increasing the growth of seaweed farming up to 14% per year would generate 500 million tons dry weight by 2050, adding about 10% to the world’s present supply of food, generating revenues and improving environmental quality (Table 1). Assuming a conservative average productivity from the best operating modern farms of about 1,000 dry metric tons per km2 (1 kg per m2), this entire harvest could be grown in a sea area of about 500,000 square kilometers, 0.03% of the oceans’ surface area, equivalent to 4.4 percent of the US exclusive economic zone.
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Seaweed is a popular term used to collectively describe marine macroalgae. Among this large and diverse assemblage of photosynthetic marine organisms are a number of species with a varied array of uses; when used for human consumption, they are more popularly known as “sea-vegetables.” This collective of convenience includes the macroscopic, multicellular, red, green, and brown algae. Seaweeds are often abundant and predominantly found in the near-shore marine ecosystems in all the oceans of the world. As a result of their diverse intercellular compounds including alginic acid, carrageenans, and agar, seaweeds have very important industrial applications.
Being important primary producers in marine ecosystems, macroalgae are an integral component of near-shore environment and form a fundamental part of the basis of the photosynthetic food chains, playing a role similar to that of terrestrial plants. In these natural environments, seaweeds often perform a large number of ecosystem services (e.g., nurseries, nutrient cycling, and reduction of coastal erosion among others), which are neither fully costed nor often appreciated by the public or users of the marine environment. Humans have wild harvested (sometimes called “wild crafting”) and cultivated seaweeds for several centuries for animal and human consumption as well as other applications including valuable sources of phycocolloids and most recently, researched as feedstock for biofuels and carbon sequestration.
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Seaweeds play key roles in Earth processes and are the world’s largest mariculture crop. They are primary producers and links in the food webs of coastal and estuarine ecosystems, and are used in many applications that affect our everyday lives. About 220 species of seaweeds are cultivated worldwide, primarily in Asia. It has been estimated that the productivity of seaweed communities is equal to or greater than that of the most productive terrestrial plant communities.
** Condensed Powerpoint slide as PDF and original PDF version available.
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Used mostly for the extraction of phycocolloids, seaweeds remain a relatively untapped resource with a huge potential as edible food, feed ingredients, cosmetics, agrichemicals, biomaterials and bioenergy molecules. Since they are also significant nutrient and carbon sinks for this planet, seaweeds should be the objects of trading credits for the ecosystem services they render. However, some biotechnological issues and societal constraints remain. A long-term interdisciplinary implementation strategy based on aquanomy principles needs to be developed.
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Like many other estuaries and coastal regions, Long Island Sound suffers from anthropogenic eutrophication. This phenomenon, the addition of nutrients to the system as a result of human activities, is a consequence of the human alteration of the nitrogen cycle on a global scale. In coastal waters and estuaries primary production by phytoplankton, seaweeds, and seagrasses is generally limited by the availability of dissolved inorganic nitrogen, present as nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium. The sources of the inorganic nitrogen added into coastal waters and estuaries are several: fertilizer run-off from residences, agriculture, septic seep into groundwater, fossil fuel combustion, and wastewater treatment plant discharges.
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Seaweed aquaculture technologies have developed dramatically over the past 70 years mostly in Asia and more recently in Americas and Europe. However, there are still many challenges to overcome with respect to the science and to social acceptability. The challenges include the development of strains with thermo-tolerance, disease resistance, fast growth, high concentration of desired molecules, the reduction of fouling organisms and the development of more robust and cost efficient farm systems that can withstand storm events in offshore environments. It is also important to note that seaweed aquaculture provides ecosystem services, which improve conditions of the coastal waters for the benefit of other living organisms and the environment. The ecosystem services role of seaweed aquaculture and its economic value will also be quantitatively estimated in this review.
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Seaweed aquaculture technologies have developed dramatically over the past 70 years mostly in Asia and more recent-ly in Americas and Europe. However, there are still many challenges to overcome with respect to the science and to socialacceptability. The challenges include the development of strains with thermo-tolerance, disease resistance, fast growth,high concentration of desired molecules, the reduction of fouling organisms and the development of more robust andcost efficient farm systems that can withstand storm events in offshore environments. It is also important to note thatseaweed aquaculture provides ecosystem services, which improve conditions of the coastal waters for the benefit of otherliving organisms and the environment. The ecosystem services role of seaweed aquaculture and its economic value willalso be quantitatively estimated in this review.
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Background: Seaweeds are often cited as alternative protein sources for livestock due to their global distribution, nutritional profile and independence from terrestrial agricultural resources. Scope and approach: Here, we critically appraise the literature and quantitatively assess seaweeds as a protein source in livestock feeds by assembling a database of amino acid data for 121 seaweed species and comparing the quality and concentration of protein to ‘traditional’ protein sources (soybean meal and fishmeal) and then benchmarking the seaweeds against the amino acid requirements of monogastric livestock (chicken, swine and fish). Key findings and conclusions: The quality of protein (% of essential amino acids in total amino acids) of many seaweeds is similar to, if not better than, traditional protein sources. However, seaweeds without exception have substantially lower concentrations of total essential amino acids, methionine and lysine (on a whole biomass basis, % dw) than traditional protein sources. Correspondingly, seaweeds contain an insufficient concentration of protein, and specifically insufficient essential amino acids, to meet the requirements of most mono-gastric livestock in the whole seaweed form. Consequently, the concentration or extraction of protein from seaweeds will be the most important goal in their development as an alternative source of protein for mono-gastric livestock.
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Seaweeds have been used as supplementary feed for livestock in Norway for centuries. Research activities on the use of seaweed as feed started early last century and continued until the late 1960s. The results were elusive, partly because the design of the experiments were imperfect. However, a long term experiment in the 1960’s demonstrated 6% higher milk production by cows supplemented mineral fortified Ascophyllum nodosum meal than in cows offered standard mineral supplement. The authors suggested that seaweed compounds might have had benficial effect on the rumen microflora. Seaweeds are a rich source of Se and antioxidants such as substituted phenols, polyphenols, vitamins, and vitamin precursors. Results from research last 10-20 years suggests that dietary supplementation with A. nodosum meal has positive effects on ruminant product quality and stress tolerance. Alginates have been documented to be non-specific immunostimulants. A. nodosum is currently commersially harvested and processed and sold as a feed supplement. Winter fed sheep and cattle in Norway needs to be given extra fat soluble vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin E and Se, in order to ensure good animal health and production. Based on the aquired knowledge from international reseach on A. nodosum and its possible beneficial health effect, we tested if A. nodosum has immunestimulating effect and can be used as a substitute for synthetic vitamin E in sheep and cattle. Our hypothesis were that supplementing the diet with seaweed to sheep and lactating dairy cows would produce better adaptive immune response following immunization compared to no supplementation and similar to animals given extra vitamin E. Two feeding experiments were conducted, one continous with 40 pregnant ewes and one with 24 lactating dairy cows in a replicated Latin square design. The four supplement treatments applied were: A. Nodosum meal (SW), Natural vitamin E, Synthetic vitamin E, or Control. The average daily rate of A. Nodosum meal per ewe and cow in SW was 80 and 200 g DM, respectively. The ewes and their newborn lambs were monitored the entire indoor feeding period, from mating until pasture let out (200 d). In the ewes, supplementation with SW had no health effects compared to the other treatments, and serum IgG concentrations were reduced in the SW group.The adaptive immunity of the lambs was not affected by supplementation, and seaweed reduced the counts of different intestinal bacterial groups. However, seaweed interferred with the lambs passive immunity resulting in a mortality rate of 35 %, compared with 10% in Control. All cows responded well to immunization, but there were no significant effects of the diet on the immune response measured. The immunesupression observed in newborn lambs from ewes offered SW was likely du to impaired Ig absorption from colostrum, and we conclude that ruminants should not be supplemented with seaweed during peripartum. More research is needed on the identification of bioactive components in seaweed, their effects in animal health, the mechanisms related to their effects on the animal health and testing before seaweed should be used as a feed supplement to ruminants.
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Marine Agronomy Group, CAFNRM, UH-Hilo
200 W. Kawili st., HI 96720, USA
Contact: Marine.Agronomy.Group@gmail.com
Funding for this web portal is provided by the World Wildlife Fund and the University of Hawaii-Hilo.