Murata Mayara Mari, Ito Morioka Luiz Rodrigo, Da Silva Marques Josemeyre Bonifacio, Bosso Alessandra, Suguimoto Hélio Hiroshi
Universidade Pitágoras-Unopar, Programa de Pós-Graduação Stricto Sensu em Ciência e Tecnologia de Leite e Derivados, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil.
AMB Express. 2021 Nov 23;11(1):154. doi: 10.1186/s13568-021-01315-4.
Microalgae have been used widely as a biological source for several industries, such as biofuel, pharmaceutical and food. Recently, the agricultural industry has also began using microalgae as an alternative source for sustainable products to replace agrochemicals. Due to the lack of scientific articles in this research area, the objective of this study was to search for applications of microalgae and to characterize its use in agriculture using the patent documents available in three patent databases, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patent Office (EPO) and Brazilian Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). The search was carried out using the keyword "microalgae" and applying the filter for International Patent Classification (IPC) code "A01N" which corresponds to patents related to agriculture and cultivation of microalgae. Our patent database search returned 669 documents and 132 patents were selected for the study based on their abstracts. The first patent was registered in 1982 and described the use of microalgae Chlorella extract as a plant growth promoter. After that, no patent was registered for 15 years. From 2005 to 2014, only seven patents were found. However, the scenario changed from 2015 when the number of patents increased mainly in the United States, China and Europe. The patent analysis showed several applications for microalgae in the agricultural sector, such as plant growth promotion, biofertilization, plant disease control, weed management, and post-harvest quality. This review confirmed the increasing interest in microalgae-derived products in agriculture and the value of using patent documents to assess innovative areas.
微藻已被广泛用作多个行业的生物来源，如生物燃料、制药和食品行业。最近，农业产业也开始将微藻用作可持续产品的替代来源，以取代农用化学品。由于该研究领域缺乏科学文献，本研究的目的是利用世界知识产权组织（WIPO）、欧洲专利局（EPO）和巴西工业产权局（INPI）这三个专利数据库中的专利文件，寻找微藻的应用，并描述其在农业中的用途。搜索使用关键词“微藻”，并应用国际专利分类（IPC）代码“A01N”的筛选条件，该代码对应于与微藻农业和养殖相关的专利。我们在专利数据库中的搜索返回了669份文件，并根据摘要选择了132项专利进行研究。第一项专利于1982年注册，描述了小球藻提取物作为植物生长促进剂的用途。此后，有15年没有专利注册。从2005年到2014年，仅发现了7项专利。然而，自2015年起情况发生了变化，当时专利数量主要在美国、中国和欧洲有所增加。专利分析显示了微藻在农业领域的多种应用，如促进植物生长、生物施肥、控制植物病害、杂草管理和收获后品质提升。这篇综述证实了农业领域对微藻衍生产品的兴趣日益增加，以及利用专利文件评估创新领域的价值。
