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Plant growth promoting activity of seaweed liquid extracts produced from Macrocystis pyrifera under different pH and temperature conditions

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Abstract

Most commercial algal extracts are produced from brown algae by alkaline hydrolysis; however, little scientific information has been published regarding the details of the production process. In this research, we have investigated the effect of pH (pH 8–12) and temperature (40, 60, and 80 °C) on liquid extract production from the brown alga Macrocystis pyrifera. Production conditions influenced the physicochemical characteristics of the final product as the extract viscosity increased with increasing pH and temperature to a maximum which occurred at pH 10 and 80 °C. This suggests that at higher pH conditions, alginate and other polysaccharides were extracted. All the extracts obtained promoted growth of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) and adventitious root formation in the mung bean cutting bioassay (Vigna radiata), as the pH process was increased during the production of the liquid extracts. The highest auxin-type activity was obtained with the extract produced at pH 11 and 80 °C, while the fastest tomato seedling growth was achieved with the extract produced at pH 12 and 80 °C.

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Acknowledgments

The University of KwaZulu-Natal, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Fellowship # 37647), Fondo mixto CONACYT-QUINTANA ROO Project # QROO-2011-C01-174594, Programa Institucional de Formación de Investigadores (PIFI), Programa de Becas de Exclusividad (COFAA-IPN), Estimulo al Desempeño de los Investigadores (EDI-IPN), and Secretaria de Investigación y Postgrado of IPN (Project #s 20090563, 20100889, and 20111212) are thanked for financial support. We wish to thank MCs Ivonne Cruz-Santander and MCs Renato Borras-Chavez for suggestions to the manuscript, Mr. Kim Siewers for English editing, and two anonymous reviewers that significantly improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Ciencias Básicas, Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo, 77200, Mexico

    Diego Briceño-Domínguez

  2. Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR), Av. IPN S/N. Col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita, 23096, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

    Diego Briceño-Domínguez & Gustavo Hernández-Carmona

  3. Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg, P/Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209, South Africa

    Mack Moyo, Wendy Stirk & Johannes van Staden

Authors
  1. Diego Briceño-Domínguez
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  2. Gustavo Hernández-Carmona
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  3. Mack Moyo
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  4. Wendy Stirk
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  5. Johannes van Staden
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Correspondence to Gustavo Hernández-Carmona.

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Briceño-Domínguez, D., Hernández-Carmona, G., Moyo, M. et al. Plant growth promoting activity of seaweed liquid extracts produced from Macrocystis pyrifera under different pH and temperature conditions. J Appl Phycol 26, 2203–2210 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-014-0237-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-014-0237-2

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