Current trends and Prospects of SeaweedFarming in India

2015 
The Seaweeds are macrophytic algae, a primitive type of plants lacking true roots, stems and leaves. The word seaweed gives the wrong impression that it is a useless plant. Seaweeds are wonder plants of the sea and highly useful plants. Seaweeds grow in the shallow waters. Root system and conducting tissues like land plants are absent in seaweeds. Most of them have hold-fast for attachment and some drift loose in the sea. Four groups of seaweeds are recognized according to their pigments that absorb light of particular wave lengths and give them their colours of green, blue, brown and red. Most seaweed belongs to one of three divisions - the Chlorophyta (green algae), the Phaeophyta (brown algae) and the Rhodophyta (red algae). There are about 900 species of green seaweed, 4000 red species and 1500 brown species found in nature. The greatest variety of red seaweeds is found in subtropical and tropical waters, while brown seaweeds are more common in cooler, temperate waters. Economic importance Some 221 species of seaweed are utilized commercially. Of these, about 145 species are used for food and 110 species for phycocolloid production.
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