Alejandro Martínez, head of the technical department of Ficosterra, highlights the differential value of the algae Macrocystis Pyrifera in the framework of the online technical meeting dedicated to Citrus
Benefits of the algae Macrocystis Pyrifera compared to other algae on the market: Ecklonia and Ascophyllum
On April 2, the Ficosterra technical webinars began.
These digital meetings are a new channel of communication with distributors and farmers while the health alarm state generated by COVID-19 lasts.
These meetings are training sessions where we explain the technology and workings of the biostimulants ficosagro®, cystium-k®, and ficosgreen® which are made of extracts of algae and microorganisms.
These presentations are offered together with the details of the numerous Success Cases that we have in various crops, as well as the testimony of the technician or farmer in charge of monitoring them.
In the Question Time that we opened after the session dedicated to Citrus fruits, a technical advisor from Valenzuela & CIA (a leading company in the distribution of plant protection products) asked us the following question:
With so many algae in use in the agricultural market, what are the differences between them?
What is the difference in the value of Macrocystis algae compared to more popular algae such as Ecklonia or Ascophyllum?
We believe that it is interesting to share the answer given by Alejandro Martínez, technical and testing manager of Ficosterra:
“Macrocystis has little or nothing to do with algae such as Ecklonia or Ascophyllum:
- Ecklonia has a high content of auxins that act to promote plant elongation both at the root level and at the apical level.
- Ascophyllum Nodosum has a high content of cytokinins, which act on the plant promoting branching and axillary growth. They also give the plant greater photosynthetic capacity.
- Cytokinins are poorly mobile phytohormones and, once they reach certain tissues, they become paralyzed.
- Most of the algae biostimulants in Spain and Europe come from the Ascophyllum algae.
- Ascophyllum is an alga that grows close to the rock, exposed to many adversities. Its size is rather discreet and when it is collected, it is cut whole (reproductive organs, etc.).
The difference in the value of Macrocystis Pyrifera, with whose extract the biostimulant cystium-k is made is that:
- It is a giant seaweed, about 30-40 meters tall
- It grows in the Pacific Ocean, without the difficulties of growing close to the rock (tides)
- It has a high content of phytohormones and cations
- Its extraction process is unique since only the apical part is cut, which is the one with the largest amounts of phytohormones and cations
As we mentioned in our blog post last November, cystium-k is a biostimulant that we presented at the IV World Congress on Biostimulants, held last November in Barcelona. It also has had a very good response from the market: with citrus, strawberries and red fruits, alfalfa, and vegetables it has already shown excellent results.
cystium-k is a product of natural origin, without chemical synthesis elements or GMOs, which, thanks to its physical-chemical composition (rich in phytohormones and cations) makes it better to produce and calibrate the fruit and obtain a greater homogeneity of their diameters.
Below is a brief excerpt from Alejandro’s intervention and some images of how algae are collected in the Pacific Ocean:
Macrocystis algae collection in the Pacific Ocean
Other topics of interest discussed at the webinar on Citrus
The technical meeting on citrus that we held on April 2 featured the testimony of the citrus farmer Juan José Sánchez.
Juanjo is in charge of a 60 ha mandarin farm in Sagunto and has been responsible for the tests carried out with the biostimulant ficosagro® on two plots:
- 2018 campaign, Marisoles farm (Sagunto)
- 2019 campaign: Oronules farm (Sagunto)
During the trial carried out in 2018 in Marisoles, Juanjo tells us that on the surface treated with ficosagro® he obtained the fruit with a higher caliber both in the first and in the second flower.
But, what caught his attention, was picking fruit with a 56.5 mm diameter in the third flower, something incredible, he tells us because, as all professionals know very well, the third flower usually produces a much more modest fruit.
In the 2019 campaign, in Oronules, the area treated with the biostimulant ficosagro® managed to produce an increase of 3 mm in caliber/fruit in the first flower, results that also seemed “quite striking” as he states.
The result was an increase in production (23.6% in total, in Oronules), at an early stage of fruit development “where the money is,” concludes Juanjo.
We present below a summary of his speech:
