Day Three 24th SeptemberThursday, 24 September 2026

Microalgae are among the most promising feedstocks for plant biostimulation, yet the sector still tends to treat "microalgae extract" as a single, undifferentiated input, which limits reproducibility and makes field results hard to predict. In our study we demonstrated that performance is decided by two connected design layers: what happens upstream, which shapes the bioactive fingerprint of the biomass, and what happens downstream, which determines how it is stabilised and delivered to the crop. Rather than a fixed "extract", the bioactive profile can be intentionally oriented toward different agronomic objectives, from mitigating abiotic stress to supporting reproductive development. We link a multi-target mode of action ,to field evidence in horticultural crops and woody fruit species under hot, water-limited conditions, where treated plants showed statistically significant gains in flowering, fruit set and yield.