Utilización de macroalgas para la inducción de mecanismos defensivos ante agentes fitopatógenos causantes de enfermedades foliares en hortalizas

Abstract

The production of vegetables worldwide has grown substantially, which has caused the demand for resources used to produce food to increase. Such is the case that nowadays, the use of pesticides for the production and management of different crops has become indispensable, causing a series of conflicts in nature, such as contamination of soil, water and air, making it a problem to be addressed. For this reason, different studies have been directed in the search for new alternatives for crop management, which involve the use of alternative products, one of them is algae extracts; these extracts have shown to have a wide variety of functions that contribute significantly to improve productivity without causing negative impacts on the environment. Among the benefits of using macroalgae extracts are the biostimulant activity, improvement of plant development, increase of water retention capacity, and activation of acquired resistance systems, among others, allowing the production of healthy food with less impact on the environment through the use of a renewable marine resource, which is currently available on the planet, becoming an essential productive alternative. Keywords: macroalgae extracts, effects, production, pathogens, elicitors, resistance systems.