History:
Chitin is one of the most abundant polysaccharide found in nature. It is often considered a cellulose derivative, although it does not occur in organisms producing cellulose.
Chitin was first found in Mushrooms in 1811 by Professor Henri while he was Professor of Natural History and Director of Botanical Gardens at the Academy Science Nancy, France, that was later to be called Chitin.
During 1830’s it was isolated from insects and named Chitin.
The name chitin is derived from Greek meaning tunic or envelope.
During 1850’s Professor C. Roughet discovered while experimenting with Chitin that it could be transferred into water soluble form through some chemical reaction and in late 1870’s name Chitin modified to Chitosan and later on much of the research was focused on these compounds.
Chitosan is a polysaccharide of Glucosamine which is derived from Chitin.
It is formed through a process of deacylation of the Chitin molecule. Chitin/Chitosan is also a constituent part of cell walls of parasitic fungi.
These days it is being produced from the processing waste of crabs, shrimps, oysters and fungi.
Importance of Chitosan in Agriculture
Everybody had an idea that these days use of biologically active and environmentally friendly substances for plant protection as well as growth enhancing is becoming an indispensable part of modern agriculture system.
This is especially more common in developed world where the governments and people becoming more conscious about using toxic chemicals on plants. Under these circumstances people need to use certain plant protecting substances that do not accumulate in soil, plants, animals and human body and that can easily degrade in natural environment. Secondly they want those substances that have the ability not only to increase plant stability against unfavorable conditions like disease and insects but also have the ability to increase the crop yield and improve its quality.
One of the most promising way of improving plant protection and quality is the method of inducing non specific resistance against such stresses based on natural plant potential activation according to model worked out by nature itself and activation of plant growth enhancing mechanism.
Plant resistance to pathogens and growth enhancing factors are based on various mechanisms such as: formation of induced antibiotics, proteinase inhibitors, and active oxygen form, maintenance of hormonal balance, activation of enzymes etc as well as modification of the plant cell wall by lignin, suberin and silicum.
These protective and growth enhancing mechanisms are induced by various substances separately but Chitosan, a non toxic, organic and biodegradable natural biopolymer meets all these requirements.
Chitosan possess a high growth stimulating efficacy combined with antifungal and antibacterial activity of systemic character.
All these properties have a prolonged effect and cause no damage to agro ecology. Chitosan has wide scope of application on various plants.
It can be used through irrigation as well as though foliar sprays. Once being applied through foliar or irrigation to plants it provides plant protection against fungal infection by rapid expression of a number of defense responses, including accumulation of phenolic compounds and formation of structural barriers at sites of attempted fungal penetration.
Chitosan inhibits the reproduction of pathogens and also induces activation of genes, which produces protease inhibitors that help protect against insect attack. It also stimulates the plants hormones responsible for root formation, stem growth, fruit formation and development.
Plants do not contain Chitosan but they do secrete Chitinase enzyme. Structurally there is a small amount of Chitinases in plants but once the Chitosan is being absorbed by plants it improves the activity and content of Chitinase enzymes and eventually plants with high Chitinase activity has better resistance to diseases.
There are two types of Chitosan oligosaccharide products available in the market, one having low molecular weight Chitosan compounds and other with higher molecular weight....
....Apart from its disease resistance and growth promoting effect Chitosan use can also improve the beneficial microbial activity when used in soil or soil less medium.
This increase in microbial activity helps in conversion of organic nutrition (not available) to inorganic (available) form. It also helps in making a better root system that helps plants to absorb more nutrients from medium.
In general Chitosan can help improve the fertilizer use efficiency, increase number and size of flowers/fruits, increase the shelf life of produce and this all ultimately lead to more production with less or no use of toxic substances for insect and disease control.
With the growing awareness about Chitosan I believe strongly that this will be the product of this century for better plant growth.
At the end I would like to say that in life it is not the strongest nor the most intelligent survive but the ones most adaptable to change. Always try to use safe (safe for Animals, Human beings and Environment) products for plant growth in order to make this world a better place for living.
By Dr. Tahir Mahmood
Director Research and Development
Grotek Manufacturing Inc.
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Thanks for the info IM!
