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Seaweed micropropagation techniques and their potentials: an overview

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Nineteenth International Seaweed Symposium

Part of the book series: Developments in Applied Phycology ((DAPH,volume 2))

Abstract

The seaweed industry worldwide uses 7.5–8.0 million tonnes of wet seaweeds annually with a majority of it derived from cultivated farms, as the demand for seaweed based-products exceeds the supply of seaweed raw material from natural stocks. The main advantage of cultivation is that it not only obviates overexploitation of natural populations but also facilitates the selection of germplasm with desired traits. To enhance the economic prospects of seaweed cultivation, varied practices, such as simple and cost effective cultivation methods, use of select germplasm as seed stock coupled with good farm management practices, etc., are adopted. Nevertheless, in vitro cell culture techniques have also been employed as they facilitate development and propagation of genotypes of commercial importance. There are more than 85 species of seaweeds for which tissue culture aspects have been reported. Although the initial aim of these techniques focuses mostly on genetic improvement and clonal propagation of seaweeds for mariculture, recently the scope of these techniques has been extended for use in bioprocess technology for production of high value chemicals of immense importance in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sectors. Recently, there has been a phenomenal interest in intensifying seaweed tissue and cell culture research to maximize the add-on value of seaweed resources. This paper deals with the status of seaweed micropropagation techniques and their applications in the context of the marine biotech industry. Further, it also provides an analysis of the problems to be resolved for removing the barriers that are impeding the true realization of potentials offered by these techniques for sustainable development and utilization of seaweed resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Discipline of Marine Biotechnology and Ecology, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, 364 002, India

    C. R. K. Reddy & Bhavanath Jha

  2. Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University, 1-14, Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki, 852-8521, Japan

    Yuji Fujita

  3. Usa Marine Biological Institute, Kochi University, Usa-Cho, Tosa, Kochi, 781-1164, Japan

    Masao Ohno

Authors
  1. C. R. K. Reddy
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  2. Bhavanath Jha
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  3. Yuji Fujita
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  4. Masao Ohno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. R. K. Reddy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences Algal Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, 6150, Australia

    Michael A. Borowitzka

  2. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., 30 Brown Avenue, Dartmouth, NS, B3B 1X8, Canada

    Alan T. Critchley

  3. Martin Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Stefan Kraan

  4. Bezhin Rosco, 28 Rue de Perharidy, 29680, Roscoff, France

    Akira Peters

  5. Department of Biology, University of Bergen, 5020, Bergen, Norway

    Kjersti Sjøtun

  6. Department of Marine Bioscience, Tokyo University of Marine Science & Technology, 4 Konan, Tokyo, Minato-ku, 108-8477, Japan

    Masahiro Notoya

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Reddy, C.R.K., Jha, B., Fujita, Y., Ohno, M. (2007). Seaweed micropropagation techniques and their potentials: an overview. In: Borowitzka, M.A., Critchley, A.T., Kraan, S., Peters, A., Sjøtun, K., Notoya, M. (eds) Nineteenth International Seaweed Symposium. Developments in Applied Phycology, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9619-8_21

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