Elizabeth Bryenton
BRYENTON, Elizabeth (Betsy), American botanist, b-1961. Her invention was an algal inoculation system as a source of fertiliser for plants, when she was quite young. Elizabeth mixed various types of algae and then grew them in water with sunlight as the energy source. One gallon of this inoculum fed an acre of plants. In 1980 she published the method, a massive energy saving is gained by use of it. The key to this concept is that when the algal mix is laid on soil around plants, the algae fix the nitrogen in air. This nitrogen extracted from the air by the algae is then available to the plants as fertiliser. This award-winning concept also results in much healthier plants. In 1980 Elizabeth published the results of 6 years work (as a teenager) and made financial projections of the worldwide savings on fertiliser (for wheat, soybeans, etc) by use of her inoculum, a mix of 12 selected algae strains. Although she envisaged selling a liquid concentrate of the algal fertiliser, which would cater for one growing season of the plants, there were some renewable aspects. Algae in the mix that were most suitable for that soil/environment would become entrenched and reappear in the following seasons.
Botanist
Inventor
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