Grant: Engage Grants Program

The industry partner harvests and processes seaweed into a broad range of products for agricutlrue, food and feed. In order to expand its product line, the company is interested in gaining knowledge on species from the genus Laminaria, a groupe of brown seaweed indigenous to Northern Atlantic. Laminaria are fast growing plants and are thus considered a sustainable source of biomass. They have a rich phytochemical composition that includes, among others, polysaccharides, tannins, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Many of these compounds have bioactive properties that may benefit plant, animal and human health. Laminarin, a complex branched polysaccharide extracted from Laminaria seaweed, is known to stimulate plant defence agains biotic and abiotic stresses. Knowledge regarding laminarin analysis as well as its seasonal variation in Nova Scotia is necessary for the company to develop laminaria-based products. Indeed, previous studies have shown that laminarin concentration in Laminaria varies according to season, site and other abiotic factors. To achieve this goal, this project proposes three objectives: 1) Develop, validate and transfert a method for laminarin extraction and analysis; 2) Explore the seasonal variation of laminarin content in Laminaria spp. from Atlantic Canada; 3) Pre-screen Laminaria samples for other phytochemicals of interest.