Microalgae-Based Biotechnology as Alternative Biofertilizers for Soil Enhancement and Carbon Footprint Reduction: Advantages and Implications

Abstract

Due to the constant growth of the human population and anthropological activity, it has become necessary to use sustainable and affordable technologies that satisfy the current and future demand for agricultural products. Since the nutrients available to plants in the soil are limited and the need to increase the yields of the crops is desirable, the use of chemical (inorganic or NPK) fertilizers has been widespread over the last decades, causing a nutrient shortage due to their misuse and exploitation, and because of the uncontrolled use of these products, there has been a latent environmental and health problem globally. For this reason, green biotechnology based on the use of microalgae biomass is proposed as a sustainable alternative for development and use as soil improvers for crop cultivation and phytoremediation. This review explores the long-term risks of using chemical fertilizers for both human health (cancer and hypoxia) and the environment (eutrophication and erosion), as well as the potential of microalgae biomass to substitute current fertilizer using different treatments on the biomass and their application methods for the implementation on the soil; additionally, the biomass can be a source of carbon mitigation and wastewater treatment in agro-industrial processes.

Modern Advancement in Biotechnological Applications for Wastewater Treatment through Microalgae: a Review

“…The FAO and WHO state that the amino-acid profiles of proteins extracted from Arthrospira are compatible with those that are advised for human consumption (Caporgno et al, 2018). As was already mentioned, these microalgae can also be used as strong fertilizers to boost crop yield and quality while avoiding the negative effects of synthetic fertilizers (El-Beltagi et al, 2022;Osorio-Reyes et al, 2023).…”

Selenium volatilization in plants, microalgae, and microorganisms

“…In particular, areas affected by phosphate mining, such as the Western United States Phosphate Resource Area (WPRA) [ 195 ]. The application of microalgae to soil has shown promising results in enhancing soil fertility and improving crop yields, thus minimizing the negative impacts of land use [ [196] , [197] , [198] , [199] , [200] ]. To utilize the potential of microalgae for Se volatilization in soil, researchers have proposed the implementation of designed pond systems that combine soil and microalgae.…”

Microalgal and Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterial Consortia: From Interaction to Biotechnological Potential

“…The green biotechnology in agriculture is based on the use of microalgae biomass as soil biofertilizer for crop cultivation and phytoremediation, reviewed in [170]. Furthermore, there is increasing interest in the use of N-fixing bacteria as a biofertilizer for crops [18].…”