Phycology has made great advances in the twenty first century. Though the use of algae as food is very old as even mentioned “in the poetic literature of the Chinese, about 600 B.C.”, they are still considered less economically important than fungi and bacteria.
Phycologists in different parts of the world, besides investigating morphological, cytological, physiological and other details of algae, are also exploring continuously the beneficial aspects of these tiny, adventurous and wonderful plants of the beautiful nature. Though many workers are trying to find out the food value of algae, their importance in industries and their uses and disuse in many other ways have not been overlooked. The importance of the roles played by algae in the world is becoming more appreciated each day because of the increased realization that many of them are extremely valuable to man.
Except for the chemosynthetic bacteria, all organisms are directly or indirectly benefited from algae. Exploration of the seas, which are full of algae, has brought home to man the usefulness of algal flora. The algae are useful as the source of many commercial products such as agar-agar, carrageeain, alginic acid diatomic funorin, kelp etc.
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