Polyolgrown: Production of biostimulant from microalgae

• Grant number: 24/04336-8
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• End date: October 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Applied Botany
• Principal Investigator: Paula Alessandra Galvez Zagaceta
• Grantee: Paula Alessandra Galvez Zagaceta
• Company: POLYOL BIOSCIENCE INOVA SIMPLES (I.S.)
• CNAE: Atividades de apoio à agricultura ; Fabricação de adubos e fertilizantes ; Pesquisa e desenvolvimento experimental em ciências físicas e naturais
• City: São Bernardo do Campo
• Pesquisadores principais: Danilo da Cruz Centeno
• Associated researchers: Luiz Henrique Marchesi Bozi
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/19472-4 - Polyolgrown: production of biostimulant from microalgae, BP.PIPE

Abstract

The search for alternative solutions for agriculture has intensified due to the high costs of obtaining chemical fertilizers and the agricultural losses caused by drought. In addition to these challenges is international pressure for the sustainable use of resources and the search for regenerative agriculture. To meet this current demand from the agricultural market, we are proposing a technological solution that consists in the production of a sustainable biostimulant, capable of providing protection for plants against drought, using desiccation tolerant non-marine microalgae. Unlike commercially available seaweed, these microalgae produce large amounts of polyols, a class of substances that provide protection to living organisms against excessive water loss. Therefore, in this proposal we will test the hypothesis that a biostimulant from microalgae has the ability to increase drought tolerance in plants. Furthermore, we will test the production of this biostimulant on a laboratory scale and validate its stability for application to seeds, soil and leaves. It is worth noting that there are few products on the biostimulants market that aim to increase drought tolerance. Even so, these products have other modes of action and involve different groups of molecules. In addition to the low competition in the market, it is important to highlight that our product, called Polyolgrown, will be the first biostimulant based on non-marine microalgae, which will have polyols as its mode of action, in an environmentally friendly production. Therefore, the development of Polyolgrown represents not only an excellent opportunity in the agriculture bioproducts market, but also an advance in the sustainable development of modern agriculture, in order to avoid crucial problems associated with the use of chemical products. (AU)