Biostimulants are a diverse group of agricultural inputs that, when applied to plants or growing media, promote natural plant processes beyond the value of their nutrient content. They are commonly used with the goal of improving nutrient use efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance, and crop quality and yield. Biostimulants are most often derived from natural materials, and include algal extracts, humic acids, protein hydrolysates, and microbial products. Marine algal extracts, particularly those derived from Ascophyllum nodosum, have been used in commercial agriculture for over a half-century. One of the challenges in global regulatory environments is identifying the components of a complex marine algal extract to demonstrate its composition and authenticity. In this study, we outline work that has been conducted to characterize Acadian Seaplants extracts of Ascophyllum nodosum using natural products isolation techniques along with modern analytical tools and NMR metabolomic analysis. Our approach has focused on the natural compounds that are known to be present in this alga, such as mannitol, alginic acid and laminarin. We have developed HPLC-based analytical methods for the detection and quantification of key marker compounds in both fresh Ascophyllum nodosum and various aqueous extracts manufactured from it. NMR-based metabolomic profiling was also used to confirm the presence of these marker compounds. Using these tools, we have demonstrated the consistency of Acadian Seaplants Ascophyllum nodosum extracts and established the levels of select marker compounds in the extract, as well as shown differences with other experimental and commercial algal extracts and biostimulants available in the global marketplace.

Analysis of Ascophyllum nodosum extracts and other biostimulant products using NMR metabolomics and other analytical methods to evaluate final product composition and consistency

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.