Studies on the effect of slf and sglf on water stressed plants

Abstract

Seaweeds are excellent source of vitamins A, B1, B12, C, D and E, riboflavin, niacin, pantothanic acid and folic acid as well as minerals such as Ca, P, Na, and K. Their aminoacid content is well balanced and contains all or most of the essential aminoacids needed for life. They have more than 54 trace elements required for human body s physiological functions in quantities greatly exceeding vegetables and other land plants (Dhargalkar and Pereira, 2005). Seaweeds are the only source for the production of agar, alginate and carrageenan. Agar and carrageenan are derived from the red seaweeds and alginate from the brown seaweeds. These products are difficult to synthesize chemically because of the formidable chemical barriers and hence for these commercially important products we have to depend on seaweed resources. These phytochemicals are extensively used in various industries such as of food, confectionary, textile, pharmaceutical, dairy and paper mostly as gelling, stabilizing, thickening and sizing agents (Silas et al, 1986; Dhargalkar and Pereira, 2005). newline Seagrasses are the marine flowering plants. They are the only angiosperm that successfully grows in tidal and subtidal environment. Seagrasses belong to the families, Hydrocharitaceae and Potamogetonaceae and they are in no way related to the terrestrial grasses of Poaceae. There are 13 genera and 58 species available all over the world. Of these, six genera are mostly restricted to temperate seas and the remaining seven genera (Cymodocea, Enhalus, Halodule, Halophila, Syringodium, Thalassia and Thalassodendron) are distributed in tropical seas (Kannan and Thangaradjou, 2005). newline newline