Microalgae-based biotechnology as alternative biofertilizersfor soil enhancement and carbon footprint reduction: advantages and Implications
Date
2023-01-28
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Abstract
"Due to the constant growth of the human population and anthropological activity, ithas become necessary to use sustainable and affordable technologies that satisfy the current andfuture demand for agricultural products. Since the nutrients available to plants in the soil arelimited and the need to increase the yields of the crops is desirable, the use of chemical (inorganicor NPK) fertilizers has been widespread over the last decades, causing a nutrient shortage due totheir misuse and exploitation, and because of the uncontrolled use of these products, there hasbeen a latent environmental and health problem globally. For this reason, green biotechnologybased on the use of microalgae biomass is proposed as a sustainable alternative for developmentand use as soil improvers for crop cultivation and phytoremediation. This review explores thelong-term risks of using chemical fertilizers for both human health (cancer and hypoxia) and theenvironment (eutrophication and erosion), as well as the potential of microalgae biomass to substitutecurrent fertilizer using different treatments on the biomass and their application methods for theimplementation on the soil; additionally, the biomass can be a source of carbon mitigation andwastewater treatment in agro-industrial processes".