How to manage stress and production weight

ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS

Abiotic stresses are defined as environmental conditions that reduce the growth and yield of crops below optimal levels (Cramer et al., 2011). They are essentially due to salinity, thermal shocks, high and low temperatures, lack or excess of light, drought or water surplus. These factors alter the concentration of solutes within the cells of the plant, damaging the tissues (osmotic stress).

Abiotic stresses also cause the denaturation of proteins and lipids, which lose their structure and functionality. The damage results in stunted growth, floral and fruit drop and qualitative decay. In severe cases, plant death can occur.

METABOLIC STRESS

In addition to environmental stress, there is another risk factor for fruit and vegetable plants, which can be defined as metabolic stress. This difficult condition manifests itself in the plant during particular moments of the production cycle, characterized by a high expenditure of energy and nutritional resources. These moments can be rooting, flowering and fruit set. Equally frequent is the physiological discomfort due to a high load of fruit, which subjects the plant to an important “effort”.

Metabolic stress therefore consists in the slowdown – or total block – of the primary chemical and physical processes, linked to the growth and reproduction of the plant. Metabolic stress negatively affects harvest in terms of production and quality, preventing the plants from obtaining the maximum yield.

SEAWEEDS’ BENEFITS

The extracts of some algae have strong biostimulant properties, mainly due to the intracellular presence of phytohormones, betaines, polysaccharides, polyphenols and other organic molecules. These natural bio-promoters induce a series of positive responses in plants, promoting vegetative growth, flowering, fruit set, fruit growth and improving the organoleptic characteristics of the production.

Furthermore, on a physiological level, the seaweeds extracts help to maintain cellular turgor and activate antistress processes. These properties make algae a powerful ally of fruit and vegetable producers against environmental adversities and growth arrest due to metabolic overload.

A SUPER-CONCENTRATED EXTRACT

The extraction process to obtain seaweed-based products is essential in defining their final properties. Until recently, production processes exclusively exploited the action of chemicals or high temperatures, which however altered the functionality of the active phyto-ingredients present in algae (losing effectiveness in the field).

Today, thanks to research applied to plant nutrition, farmers can count on the advantages of a new generation of seaweed extracts: more concentrated in active phyto-ingredients and more effective.

CREMALGA is a biostimulant in the form of a super-concentrated seaweed cream. This formulation, launched by Biolchim, combines the properties of 3 different algae (Ascophyllum, Ecklonia and Macrocystis) with the stimulating action of plant amino acids. By exploiting a cold extraction system with ultrasounds, CREMALGA brings a rich complex of natural growth bio-promoters with an unaltered biological value.

The betaines and polysaccharides contained in the product favor the overcoming of environmental adversities (thermal, water, saline, light stress) and support the plant in the phases of high metabolic load. Thanks to the auxin-like, cytokinin-like and gibberellin-like properties of the three seaweeds, CREMALGA also optimizes the hormonal balance in the tissues and stimulates cell division and extantion. In this way, more abundant productions with greater organoleptic value are obtained.