​The benefit of seaweed in agribusiness

The use of seaweed in cosmetics and dermatological products is widely known. But the benefits of its use are even greater and are also present in agriculture. Producers across the country are already adopting technologies made from algae in search of more productive and sustainable crops. The gender Lithothamnium sp. is a type of algae that grows in a marine environment capable of providing a physical-chemical-organic combination in its plant structure.

This natural combination is absolutely preserved in the composition of Oceana's Algen fertilizer. The company adopts industrial procedures that preserve intact all the original physical, nutritional, organic and biological properties of the lithothamnium. And the benefits of these properties are huge for agribusiness. The use of fertilizer provides plant nutrition and soil fertility, as its nutrients are quickly solubilized in the soil, released and absorbed by plants.

And what happens inside them is that the natural properties of the algae lithothamnium, especially the bonds between amino acids and mineral nutrients, plus the highly porous structure and carbonates of plant origin, give the fertilizer a high capacity to generate a comfortable biochemical condition for the roots, promoting greater distribution and root growth, biostimulant actions in plants, favorable conditions for microbial life and greater efficiency of NPK fertilizers, factors that lead to improvements in the quality of crop productivity.

The product is already being widely used in Petrolina (PE). The state of Pernambuco is currently recognized as a major producer and exporter of fruit and the region has a need for high quality calcium in the soil, which compromises part of fruit production. This deficit was met with the technology presented by Oceana fertilizer. In partnership with consultant Newton Matsumoto, a reference in consultancy in grape cultivation in the region, significant improvements were obtained in the cultivation of Itália grapes with the application of Algen fertilizer. Aspects such as shelf life, increased Brix and thicker skin were obtained, ensuring greater fruit firmness.

The benefit provided by fertilizer in the nutritional and productive aspects of crops is an effect of the algae lithothamnium to the activity of microorganisms in the plant rhizosphere. Still, there are doubts whether fertilizer will replace liming and the use of agricultural limestone. However, this is not true. Liming and fertilization are completely different management practices. Liming has the function of correcting acidity and reducing aluminum from a large mass of soil, using several tons of limestone derived from rocks.

The benefits of Algen fertilizer are related to the technologies and functions of fertilization/fertilization aimed at crop nutrition. The fertilizer also acts as a chemical and biological conditioner where it is applied, specifically in the root regions. The nutritional composition is made up of macro and micronutrients balanced by nature and with high availability for plants, such as calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, silicon, boron, zinc, molybdenum, chlorine, cobalt, copper and manganese, which allow crops to achieve its productive potential. It is also considered a noble source of calcium because it is a product of biological origin, does not have ionic antagonism between its nutrients and because it makes them available in a synchronized way with the nutritional demand of plants, and can be applied to all crops and soil types.

The use of natural resources for our agriculture is greater than we can even imagine. It is up to the rural producer to analyze and identify, case by case, how we can obtain better results from available technologies, combining good products and technologies with appropriate management.