Understanding the Impact of Soil Characteristics and Field Management Strategies on the Degradation of a Sprayable, Biodegradable Polymeric Mulch
The use of non-degradable plastic mulch has become an essential agricultural practice for increasing crop yields, but continued use has led to contamination problems and in some cropping areas decreases in agricultural productivity. The subsequent emergence of biodegradable plastic mulches is a tech...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Agriculture |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/2062 |
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| author | Cuyler K. Borrowman Raju Adhikari Kei Saito Stuart Gordon Antonio F. Patti |
| author_facet | Cuyler K. Borrowman Raju Adhikari Kei Saito Stuart Gordon Antonio F. Patti |
| author_sort | Cuyler K. Borrowman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The use of non-degradable plastic mulch has become an essential agricultural practice for increasing crop yields, but continued use has led to contamination problems and in some cropping areas decreases in agricultural productivity. The subsequent emergence of biodegradable plastic mulches is a technological solution to these issues, so it is important to understand how different soil characteristics and field management strategies will affect the rate at which these new materials degrade in nature. In this work, a series of lab-scale hydrolytic degradation experiments were conducted to determine how different soil characteristics (type, pH, microbial community composition, and particle size) affected the degradation rate of a sprayable polyester–urethane–urea (PEUU) developed as a biodegradable mulch. The laboratory experiments were coupled with long-term, outdoor, soil degradation studies, carried out in Clayton, Victoria, to build a picture of important factors that can control the rate of PEUU degradation. It was found that temperature and acidity were the most important factors, with increasing temperature and decreasing pH leading to faster degradation. Other important factors affecting the rate of degradation were the composition of the soil microbial community, the mass loading of PEUU on soil, and the degree to which the PEUU was in contact with the soil. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5bae0412096146fb8bf7c3ff149f14cb |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2077-0472 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agriculture |
| spelling | doaj-art-5bae0412096146fb8bf7c3ff149f14cb2025-08-20T02:08:00ZengMDPI AGAgriculture2077-04722024-11-011411206210.3390/agriculture14112062Understanding the Impact of Soil Characteristics and Field Management Strategies on the Degradation of a Sprayable, Biodegradable Polymeric MulchCuyler K. Borrowman0Raju Adhikari1Kei Saito2Stuart Gordon3Antonio F. Patti4School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, AustraliaCSIRO Manufacturing, Clayton, VIC 3168, AustraliaSchool of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, AustraliaCSIRO Agriculture and Food Research Unit, Werribee, VIC 3030, AustraliaSchool of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, AustraliaThe use of non-degradable plastic mulch has become an essential agricultural practice for increasing crop yields, but continued use has led to contamination problems and in some cropping areas decreases in agricultural productivity. The subsequent emergence of biodegradable plastic mulches is a technological solution to these issues, so it is important to understand how different soil characteristics and field management strategies will affect the rate at which these new materials degrade in nature. In this work, a series of lab-scale hydrolytic degradation experiments were conducted to determine how different soil characteristics (type, pH, microbial community composition, and particle size) affected the degradation rate of a sprayable polyester–urethane–urea (PEUU) developed as a biodegradable mulch. The laboratory experiments were coupled with long-term, outdoor, soil degradation studies, carried out in Clayton, Victoria, to build a picture of important factors that can control the rate of PEUU degradation. It was found that temperature and acidity were the most important factors, with increasing temperature and decreasing pH leading to faster degradation. Other important factors affecting the rate of degradation were the composition of the soil microbial community, the mass loading of PEUU on soil, and the degree to which the PEUU was in contact with the soil.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/2062biodegradable polymerhydrolytic polymer degradationenvironmental polymer degradationmicrobial degradation |
| spellingShingle | Cuyler K. Borrowman Raju Adhikari Kei Saito Stuart Gordon Antonio F. Patti Understanding the Impact of Soil Characteristics and Field Management Strategies on the Degradation of a Sprayable, Biodegradable Polymeric Mulch Agriculture biodegradable polymer hydrolytic polymer degradation environmental polymer degradation microbial degradation |
| title | Understanding the Impact of Soil Characteristics and Field Management Strategies on the Degradation of a Sprayable, Biodegradable Polymeric Mulch |
| title_full | Understanding the Impact of Soil Characteristics and Field Management Strategies on the Degradation of a Sprayable, Biodegradable Polymeric Mulch |
| title_fullStr | Understanding the Impact of Soil Characteristics and Field Management Strategies on the Degradation of a Sprayable, Biodegradable Polymeric Mulch |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding the Impact of Soil Characteristics and Field Management Strategies on the Degradation of a Sprayable, Biodegradable Polymeric Mulch |
| title_short | Understanding the Impact of Soil Characteristics and Field Management Strategies on the Degradation of a Sprayable, Biodegradable Polymeric Mulch |
| title_sort | understanding the impact of soil characteristics and field management strategies on the degradation of a sprayable biodegradable polymeric mulch |
| topic | biodegradable polymer hydrolytic polymer degradation environmental polymer degradation microbial degradation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/2062 |
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