U.S.-Mexico Cooperative Research: Physiology and Cultivation of the Economical Important Seaweed Gracilaria Cornea from the Gulf of Mexico

小行星9512829 这个美洲计划奖将资助南佛罗里达大学的克林顿·J·道斯博士和I.P.N.研究中心的丹尼尔·罗夫莱多博士之间的合作研究，墨西哥，关于海藻江蓠的生理和栽培。 本种分布于沿着墨西哥尤卡坦海岸和佛罗里达的下礁，含有一种商业上重要的藻胶体，琼脂。 作为将要进行的实验的结果，将选择表现出高生长速率、有用的形态型和高质量琼脂产量的菌株。 预计从拟议的研究中获得的信息将使那些将藻类用作食品或琼脂工业原材料的国家受益。 在世界范围内存在开发新的高质量琼脂来源的潜在需求。 在美国，80%以上的琼脂原材料是从遥远的国家进口的。 因此，墨西哥等邻近国家对琼脂的需求很大。 该项目结合了美国科学家在海藻生理学和栽培方面的专业知识，以及墨西哥科学家对当地海藻的了解，可能会导致新的海藻海产养殖业的发展，为北美琼脂生产提供原材料。 ***

9512829 Dawes This Americas Program award will fund collaborative research between Dr. Clinton J. Dawes, University of South Florida, and Dr. Daniel Robledo, Centro de Investigaciones y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N., Mexico, on the physiology and cultivation of the seaweed Gracilaria cornea. The species, occurring along the Yucatan coast of Mexico and in the lower Keys of Florida, contains a commercially important phycocolloid, agar. As a result of experiments to be conducted, strains showing high growth rates, useful morphotypes, and high yields of quality agar will be selected. It is expected that the information resulting from the proposed research will benefit those countries where algae are used as food or as raw material for the agar industries. There is a potential need for developing new sources of high quality agar in the world. More than 80% of the raw material for agar used in the U.S. is imported from distant countries. Thus, there is an important demand for agar from adjacent countries such as Mexico. This project, combining the expertise of the U.S. scientist in seaweed physiology and cultivation, with the knowledge of local seaweeds of his Mexican counterpart, may lead to the development of a new seaweed mariculture industry, that could provide the raw material for North American agar production. ***