Seaweed and seaweed-derived products have been widely used as bio stimulants in crop production due to presence of multiple growth regulators such as cytokinin, auxins, gibberellins, betaines, as well as presence of macronutrients such as Ca, K, P, and micronutrients like Fe, Cu, Zn, B, Mn, Co and Mo, which are necessary for plant growth and development. Numerous studies have revealed a wide range of beneficial effects of seaweed extract on plants, such as early seed germination and establishment, better crop performance and yield, inducing resistance to biotic and abiotic stress and many more. This paper is an effort to review the importance of seaweed extract on germination, production, improvement of nutritional quality of agricultural crops which helps in further study of sea weed in agriculture.

Sugarcane is one of the important cash crop of Assam occupying an area of about 29 thousand ha with an average productivity of 37 t/ha. Poor yield of the crop is mainly due to some abiotic and biotic stress conditions, social and technical constraints and poor mechanization. Major reasons for low yield are heavy monsoon rainfall, reduced sunshine hours, high incidence of insect pests, lack of irrigation and low input use. The crop is grown in almost all the districts of Assam under varied soil and climatic conditions. Major sugarcane growing districts are Karbi-Angolong, Nagaon, Dima Hasao, Sonitpur and Golaghat. Almost all the cane produced in the state is utilized for making of jaggery except in places near city areas where the cane is used for raw juice during summer season. However, cane growers earn less income due to lack of adequate market facility and absence of proper marketing channel. The state has tremendous scope of enhancing the cane productivity through development of high yielding and pest and disease resistant varieties, development of abiotic and biotic stress management modules, adopting integrated nutrient supply system and sustaining its productivity by following suitable cropping systems.