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Algae-Based Biofertilizers: A Biorefinery Approach

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Microorganisms for Green Revolution

Part of the book series: Microorganisms for Sustainability ((MICRO,volume 7))

Abstract

Current perturbations in the agrarian economies and the agro-environment have sparked concerns regarding the future food security and a dire need for sustainable agricultural practices without jeopardizing the environmental assets. One such major requirement for an agrarian society is a resilient nutrient source for agriculture. In this regard algal cells that are cosmopolitan in nature with unparalleled characteristics of high biomass productivity, high photosynthetic efficiency and ability to grow in barren and non-arable lands are attractive. They grow in a wide range of water systems especially the ones that are highly enriched with salts (saline) and nutrients (eutrophied) and in numerous contaminated and polluted systems as urban wastewaters. Apart from these primary benefits, the algal route also offers important byproducts that can be further used as value-added products in industries and as C neutral commodities that help to evade climate change by negating greenhouse gas emissions. The most important aspects are its efficiency as a biofertilizer that dynamically improves the soil health and its physicochemical behaviour. The wastewater-grown algal microflora is exceptional in imparting the appropriate mineral nutrient mix with essential vitamins and plant growth promoters together with increasing the water holding capacity of the soil. Algal communities from wastewaters with optimal NPK ratio and secondary nutrients are therefore model biofertilizers. They can be substitutes of the conventional chemical fertilizers due to its ubiquity, enhanced metabolic flux, short generation time and inherent capabilities to transform inert N into plant-available N (N fixation). All the above-mentioned characteristics, techno-economic feasibility and environmental benefits make algae the most beneficial and demanding bioresource of the twenty-first century.

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Acknowledgement

The authors sincerely acknowledge the laboratory facilities at Aquatic Ecology and Molecular Ecology labs in Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Inorganic and Physical Chemistry (IPC), Biochemistry (BC) and Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU) at IISc, for their help during the culture experiments and biochemical composition analysis. The authors also deeply acknowledge the Science and Education Research Board (SERB), IUSSTF INDO-US Postdoctoral Fellowship, Government of India; Department of Biotechnology (DBT); Ministry of Science and Technology (DST); Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India; and Indian Institute of Science for providing the financial and infrastructural support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering [BEE], College of Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Durga Madhab Mahapatra & G. S. Murthy

  2. Centre for Sustainable Technologies (formerly known as ASTRA) [CST], Centre for infrastructure Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning [CiSTUP], Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    Durga Madhab Mahapatra, H. N. Chanakya & T. V. Ramachandra

  3. Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences [CES], Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    Durga Madhab Mahapatra, N. V. Joshi & T. V. Ramachandra

  4. Centre for infrastructure Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning [CiSTUP], Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    N. V. Joshi & T. V. Ramachandra

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  1. Durga Madhab Mahapatra
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  2. H. N. Chanakya
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  3. N. V. Joshi
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  4. T. V. Ramachandra
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  5. G. S. Murthy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Durga Madhab Mahapatra .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Microbiology, B. A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India

    Deepak G. Panpatte

  2. Department of Agricultural Microbiology, B. A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India

    Yogeshvari K. Jhala

  3. Department of Agricultural Microbiology, B. A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India

    Harsha N. Shelat

  4. Department of Agricultural Microbiology, B. A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India

    Rajababu V. Vyas

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Mahapatra, D.M., Chanakya, H.N., Joshi, N.V., Ramachandra, T.V., Murthy, G.S. (2018). Algae-Based Biofertilizers: A Biorefinery Approach. In: Panpatte, D., Jhala, Y., Shelat, H., Vyas, R. (eds) Microorganisms for Green Revolution. Microorganisms for Sustainability, vol 7. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7146-1_10

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