Preface: Bioactive substances of various seaweeds and their applications and utilization

Abstract

Over the past century or more, traditional uses of seaweeds began and initially comprised the simple collection, sorting and drying of seaweeds harvested from the wild, or cast upon the beach, for use as soil "manure/fertilizer/improver". Some macroalgae were used for unprocessed food purposes and subsequently harvested and cultivated biomasses of selected brown and red seaweeds becameindustrially processed to yield alginates, mannitol, iodine, agar, agarose, carrageenan, and more recently biostimulants, etc. Products from various seaweeds are very diverse and are commonly applied in a range that includes textiles and dying, food/feed and supplements and specialized medical applications.

Seaweed-Based Compounds and Products for Sustainable Protection against Plant Pathogens

“…From ancient times, seaweeds were used as natural soil conditioners [ 13 , 14 ]. In more recent decades, the uses of many seaweeds have been expanded immensely, and are evolving as a new trend, with increasing prospects their usage, i.e., food and bioactive compounds within functional foods and feed ingredients, phycocolloid production, plant biostimulants, biofuels and bioremediation [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Polyphenols, such as phlorotannins, and carbohydrates such as carrageenan, laminarins, fucoidans and ulvans, may act as elicitors which, when applied, can induce immunity against various plant pathogens [ 12 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”