Methods of cultivation and economic values of seaweeds

Abstract

Seaweeds or marine algae occur in marine, estuarine and backwater habitats. They are valuable renewable marine living resource. They belong to the primitive group of nonflowering plants and are mostly distributed in the intertidal, shallow and deep waters of the sea up to 150 m depth. They grow on rocks, dead coral stones, pebbles, solid substrates and other plants as epiphytes. They are unique with no distinguishable root, stem and leaves. Based on the type of pigments and morphological and anatomical characters, seaweeds are broadly classified into green, brown, red and blue-green algae. Seaweeds are one of the commercially important marine living renewable resources. They are used as human food, animal feed and fertiliser for several land crops and as medicine. The distribution and resources of seaweeds in India, candidate species and suitable methods of culture are presented. The various economic values of seaweeds are also given in this chapter.