Characterization of polysaccharides extracted from brown seaweeds

Agricultural uses of plant biostimulants

“…Seaweed extracts also act as biostimulants, enhancing seed germination and establishment, improving plant growth, yield, flower set and fruit production, increasing resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and improving postharvest shelf life (Mancuso et al 2006;Norrie and Keathley 2006;Hong et al 2007aHong et al , 2007bRayorath et al 2008;Khan et al 2009;Craigie 2011;Mattner et al 2013). The biostimulant effects often have been attributed to the presence of plant growth hormones and related low molecular weight compounds present in the extracts (Stirk and van Staden 1997;Tarakhovskaya et al 2007), but other research suggests that larger molecules including unique polysaccharides and polyphenols may also be important as biostimulants, as allelochemicals, and for enhancing resistance to stress (Klarzynski et al 2003;Zhang et al 2006;Rioux et al 2007;González et al 2013).…”

“…Seaweed extracts are a complex mixture of components that may vary according to the seaweed source, the season of collection, and the extraction process used (Khan et al 2009;Rioux et al 2009;Sharma et al 2012;Shekhar et al 2012). They contain a wide range of organic and mineral components including unique and complex polysaccharides not present in terrestrial plants such as laminarin, fucoidan and alginates, and plant hormones (Sivasankari et al 2006;Rioux et al 2007;Khan et al 2009). Recently (Sharma et al 2012) and (Shekhar et al 2012) reported on the compositional analysis of five brown seaweed species from Northern Ireland.…”

Algal Polysaccharides, Novel Applications and Outlook

“…Some researchers have measured fucoidan's molecular weight at approximately 100 kDa. while others have observed a molecular weight of 1600 kDa (Rioux et al 2007). The native fucoidan from Lessonia vadosa with a molecular weight of 320 kDa showed good anticoagulant activity compared to a smaller depolymerised fraction with a molecular weight of 32 kDa, which presented weaker anti-coagulant activity (Li et al 2008a).…”

Introductory Chapter: Introduction to Food Additives

“…However, numerous studies are being conducted evaluating the positive effects of synthetic lecithin [35]. Alginate functioning as both a thickener and gelling agent is another natural food additive in this group [36]. Apart from the natural compounds, synthetic emulsifiers such as polysorbates constitute an important component of this group.…”