Exploring Kelp Extracts for Soil Health and Crop Resilience
A project is underway to explore how kelp extracts can enhance nutrient management in agriculture, backed by Innovate UK funding and a coalition of industry experts. The project, titled “Assessing Sugar Kelp Extracts as a Nutrient Management Tool” (SKE-NMT), is spearheaded by Algapelago Marine Ltd. in collaboration with The James Hutton Institute, Atlantic Mariculture Ltd and the UK Agri-Tech Centre.
In its early phases, this research seeks to investigate how biologically driven nutrient management strategies can improve soil health and crop performance. By leveraging the natural properties of seaweed biostimulants and reducing reliance on mineral fertilizers, the project intends to foster plant resilience while optimizing soil microbial and fungal ecosystems.
Seaweed supplements contain a uniquely rich blend of fibers, micronutrients and bioactive compounds that stimulate beneficial soil microbiota. This, in turn, triggers a chain reaction of biological processes that benefit productivity, resistance to abiotic stress, and resistance to pathogens.