Seaweed biotechnology

Seaweeds or marine macro algae are primitive non-flowering plants without true root, stem and leaves. They form one of the commercially important marine living renewable resources. They are the only source for the production of phytochemicals such as agar, carrageenan and algin. Seaweeds occur in the intertidal, shallow and deep waters of the sea upto 180m depth and also in estuaries and backwaters. They grow on rocks, dead corals, stones, pebbles, solid substrata and on other plants.