Function of Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria have several function that can help us in many ways. Some of them are discussed below-

• Crop Production:
  • Cyanobacteria improve crop production by acting as biofertilizers, improving soil conditions, mineralizing organic molecules, stimulating plant growth, and acting as a biological pest control agent.
• Nitrogen fixation:
  • Terrestrial Cyanobacteria species improve soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen (N), binding soil particles, retaining moisture, and avoiding erosion.
  • Blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria) fix atmospheric nitrogen through biological nitrogen fixation. As photosynthetic organisms, they do not compete with agricultural plants or soil microflora for carbon and energy.
• Soil fertility:
  • Nitrogen-fixing plants like Anabaena, which grows in rice fields with the floating water fern Azolla, improve soil fertility and enhance rice output.
• Plant growth:
  • Cyanobacteria-based biofertilizer promotes plant growth by improving soil chemical and biological characteristics, synthesising growth-promoting substances, restoring the soil’s natural nutrient cycle, building soil organic matter, converting complex nutrients into simple nutrients, reducing soil salinity, preventing weed growth, and increasing pH.
  • Cyanobacteria produce growth-promoting regulators (similar to gibberellins and auxins), vitamins, amino acids, polypeptides, antibacterial and antifungal substances, and polymers, such as exopolysaccharides, to improve soil structure and enzyme activity.
• Binding agent:
  • Decomposed Cyanobacteria’s organic matter works as a binding mucilaginous agent in soil, increasing humus content and promoting plant growth.
  • Cyanobacteria excrete polysaccharides, peptides, and lipids while growing in soil. These chemicals bind soil particles into microaggregates. Polysaccharides include fibres that can entangle clay particles and create clusters, in addition to other substances.

Cyanobacteria, are a wide range of photosynthetic bacteria that can perform oxygenic photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria are also known as blue-green algae. These are prokaryotic cells that lack membrane-bound organelles and belong to the domain of bacteria. Cyanobacteria structure is filamentous, colonial, or unicellular, and Cyanobacteria function as primary producers, nitrogen fixers, and oxygen producers. In this article, we will learn about cyanobacteria, its functions, structure, and examples.