Grant: Engage Grants Program

Macro algae (""seaweeds"") have been used for centuries as soil supplements to enhance the growth ofagricultural crops. More recently, liquid and powder extracts of these macro seaweeds have been used as amore efficient means of applying these amendments to field and horticultural crops. Acadian Seaplants Ltd isa Canadian company that sells extracts from the brown macro algae, Ascophyllum nodosum (""rock weed"") as asupplement to a wide variety of crops around the world.A. nodosum is a very common seaweed found in cold-water, intertidal zones along North Atlantic coastlines ofNorth America and Europe. Much research on the beneficial effects of A. nodosum extracts on plant growthand development has been done. Components such as macro- and microelement nutrients, amino acids,vitamins, and plant growth stimulating substances (e.g. cytokinins, auxins, and abscisic acid-like substances)have been implicated in the growth promotion effects of seaweed extracts on plant growth. However, little isyet known about the effects of seaweed extracts on the interactions between plant roots and the enormouspopulations of beneficial soil microbes (bacteria and fungi) which live around, on, and in the roots of theplants. These soil microbes benefit the growth of their host plants by various means, but commonly byfacilitating access to soil nutrient and helping to ward off disease organisms.Our research will address the problem of how A. nodosum extracts may affect beneficial plant-microbeinteractions between sugar beet and a variety of bacteria and fungi that are known to improve the growth ofcrop plants. Our research may determine new mechanisms by which A. nodosum extracts benefit the growthof crop plants and lead to even more effective and broader use of the extracts. This research may also lead toimprovement in the production of sugar beet, a very important crop for the production of bioethanol.