Succeeded in strawberry cultivation with organic liquid fertilizer produced from the microalgae Euglena
Suggests the possibility of using by-products of fuel production as fertilizer

Euglena Co., Ltd.

　Euglena Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Mitsuru Izumo, hereinafter "Euglena") is with Meiji University Kurokawa Farm, Toda Construction Co., Ltd., Routrek Networks Co., Ltd., DA Invent Co., Ltd., and Office FUJIWARA. Jointly,  ^{we will carry out a demonstration of cultivation of crops using organic liquid fertilizer * 1 made} Euglena (Japanese name: Euglena"), and the yield of agricultural products equivalent to that of conventional chemical liquid fertilizer can be obtained. I confirmed that.
* 1 Organic liquid fertilizer refers to a liquid containing nutrients obtained from "hydrothermal decomposition treatment" (a treatment technology that puts organic matter into a closed tank at high temperature and high pressure and decomposes it).

■ Background
　Euglena the process of extracting lipids, which are the raw material for biofuels, from Euglena lipid extraction residue") is generated as a by-product (Fig. 1). Euglena lipid extraction residue will not only lead to effective use of resources by developing its utilization method, but will also lead to cost reduction in the entire biofuel production process if Euglena I think.
　This time, we focused on organic liquid fertilizer while examining the effective use of Euglena Until now, Meiji University Kurokawa Farm has conducted tests using organic liquid fertilizer made from grass and vegetable waste, but depending on the crops to be cultivated, due to the influence of organic acids contained in grass and vegetable waste, etc. The problem was the occurrence of growth disorders. Euglena lipid extraction residue reduces the amount of organic acids contained in the process of extracting lipids, so it is expected to suppress the occurrence of growth disorders of agricultural crops due to organic acids, which has been a problem so far. A demonstration experiment was conducted on the possibility of organic liquid fertilizer using Euglena

Fig. 1 Euglena residue after lipid extraction

■ Research content and results
　Euglena lipid extraction residue as a raw material (hereinafter referred to as "Euglena organic liquid fertilizer") and compare it with organic liquid fertilizer produced from conventional vegetable raw materials and liquid fertilizer of chemical fertilizer in strawberry cultivation. Was carried out. As a result, Euglena organic liquid fertilizer is not damaged by organic acids on the growth of crops, and is more promising for the growth of crops than the liquid fertilizer produced from conventional vegetable raw materials. It was also confirmed that there was no difference in yield and quality compared to chemical liquid fertilizer (Figs. 2 and 3).

Fig. 2 Strawberry yield per share, Fig. 3 Changes in strawberry fruit sugar content in the experiment

■ Future development
　Up until now, Euglena Euglena based on the basic strategy  ^{of 5F * 2} of biomass to provide energy including food and cosmetics and other healthcare businesses and the development and manufacture of biofuels. I have been working on the environmental business. This Euglena organic liquid fertilizer is a fertilizer out of the 5th floor of biomass, and it is expected that Euglena Currently, we are working on the development of fertilizer potential in collaboration with multiple partners such as Kobashi Industries Co., Ltd., which is a capital and business alliance partner, and will continue to realize a sustainable society through businesses that utilize microalgae and biotechnology. We will aim for.
* 2 What is the 5th floor of biomass? Biomass has five uses in descending order of unit price by weight: Food, Fiber, Feed, Fertilizer, and Fuel. Business strategy to promote reduction of biomass production cost and expansion of availability by sequentially developing businesses from high to low (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Schematic diagram on the 5th floor of biomass

<About Euglena Co., Ltd.>
In 2005, we succeeded in establishing the world's first edible outdoor mass culture technology for the Euglena In addition to developing and selling functional foods and cosmetics that utilize the Euglena and Chlorella produced on Ishigaki Island, we are also conducting research toward the production of biofuels. Listed on TSE Mothers in December 2012. TSE First Section market change in December 2014. The management philosophy is "to make people and the earth healthy". https://euglena.jp