Agriculture is an important sector of the economy, but this industry consumes significant amounts of water, which is a precious and limited natural resource. Irrigation techniques and efforts to mitigate water usage influence the growth, survival, and yield of crops. However, superabsorbent polymers in combination with fertilizers can be employed to obtain sustained release of nutrients and improved water retention capacity of the soil. Despite significant recent progress in this area involving synthetic polyacrylate hydrogels, there are no industrially applicable solutions exhibiting similar performance using natural biopolymers or synthetic polymers enriched with natural components. This review focuses on biodegradable chitosan-based hydrogels (both natural and semi-synthetic), and discusses their potential agricultural and horticultural applications. The methods for synthesizing hydrogels via physical or chemical crosslinking, and the resulting functional properties of recently reported hydrogels, such as water retention and release of active ingredients, are presented herein.
Wer Parteien attraktiver machen möchte, muss an ihre Kultur ran. Ebenso wichtig wie zeitgemäße Satzungstexte ist der alltägliche Umgang der Parteimitglieder miteinander, die Qualität der Zusammenarbeit, die Offenheit für Neue und Neues, die Fähigkeit zur fairen Debatte und die Bereitschaft zur reflektierten Führung. Wir vertreten die These, dass Parteien eine Kultur der Offenheit, der Neugier und der Lernbereitschaft brauchen, um zukunftsfähig zu sein. Nur wenn Parteien hier ansetzen und Kultur als elementares Thema für die eigene Zukunftsfähigkeit erkennen, kann Parteiarbeit wieder das machen, was ihr in Augen der meisten Politikinteressierten heute fehlt: Spaß.
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