DETERMINATION OF BIOFERTILIZER POTENTIAL OF FERMENTED MACROALGAE EXTRACT

Algae based biofertilizers have an increasing prevelance both in academic studies and usage as commercial products. In this study, ten different species of macroalgae - Stypopodium schimperi (Phaeophyta), Sargassum vulgare (Phaeophyta), Dictyota dichotoma (Phaeophyta), Cystoseria compressa (Phaeophyta), Padina pavonia (Phaeophyta), Viva intestinalis (Chlorophyta), Haloptehs scoparia (Phaeophyta), Laurencia obtusa (Rhodophyta), Jania rubens (Rhodophyta) and Cystoseira cornicu-lata (Phaeophyta) collected from Iskenderun Bay on the northeastern Mediterranean coast, were subjected to fermentation process. In order to obtain fermented algal fertilizers (FAF), two different fermentation starters were used; sugar beet molasses (Beta vulgaris) alone and combination of brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) + sugar beet molasses. Chemical contents of FAFs were determined and combining brewer's yeast and sugar beet molasses as fermentation starter resulted in higher content of organic matter, total N, total K2O, water-soluble Ca, SO3 in FAF (p