Biodegradable Plastic Mulch Films for Sustainable Specialty Crop Production

Hayes, Douglas G.; Anunciado, Marife B.; DeBruyn, Jennifer M.; Bandopadhyay, Sreejata; Schaeffer, Sean M.; English, Marie E.; Ghimire, Shuresh; Miles, Carol A.; Flury, Markus; Sintim, Henry Y.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-19416-1_11

Cited by 42 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 137 publications

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“…Northern and central Pennsylvania growers cannot plant in early spring because of cold soil temperatures, and must harvest early in the fall season before the first frost, resulting in a shorter growing season. One strategy is the use of raised beds coupled with black biodegradable or standard black plastic mulch films to increase early-season soil temperature and control for weeds (Hayes et al, 2019). However, there are increased labor, machinery, and supply costs associated with initial placement and subsequent removal and disposal of plastic after final harvest.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…However, there are increased labor, machinery, and supply costs associated with initial placement and subsequent removal and disposal of plastic after final harvest. This strategy has been examined extensively and was found to increase vegetable yields (Hayes et al, 2019). Another important factor for sweetpotato production is the use of adapted sweetpotato varieties that could yield well under northeastern U.S. conditions, as well as present suitable shapes and quality characteristics for local fresh markets.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Performance of Sweetpotato Varieties Grown Using Black Plastic Mulch in Pennsylvania

Duque

2020

hortte

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Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) production in Pennsylvania and the northeastern United States has been increasing steadily. The performance of eight commercially available sweetpotato varieties and two unreleased accessions grown on raised beds and covered with black plastic mulch in Pennsylvania was evaluated. All varieties and accessions were evaluated in 2 successive years (2018 and 2019) at Rock Springs, PA. There were statistically significant differences in total marketable yield (TMY), but not in all yield components in both years. ‘Orleans’, ‘Beauregard’, ‘Averre’, and ‘Covington’ consistently produced high marketable yields and suitable U.S No.1 grade storage roots. ‘Bonita’ (tan skin/white flesh) and ‘Carolina Ruby’ [red skin/orange flesh (OF)] produced consistent yields in both years (range, 330–430 bushels/acre; 50-lb bushel). NC413 [purple skin (PS)/purple flesh (PF)] produced the lowest yield in 2018 and was discarded for future trials. In 2019, NCP13-0030 (PS/PF) produced good yields and shapes comparable to OF varieties. Overall total yields (TYs) measured in this study compared satisfactorily with average nationwide yields, with several varieties producing more than 500 bushels/acre.

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Performance of Sweetpotato Varieties Grown Using Black Plastic Mulch in Pennsylvania

Duque

2020

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“…A significant secondary source of MPs and NPs in agricultural soils are plastic mulch films, which are used for the production of vegetables and other specialty crops. They serve as a barrier applied to the soil surface to prevent weeds and evaporative loss of water, sustain soil temperature, reduce diseases, and pests [20][21][22]. The most frequently used plastic mulch material is polyethylene (PE); however, there are no desirable end-of-life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most frequently used plastic mulch material is polyethylene (PE); however, there are no desirable end-of-life. Recycling programs are mostly unavailable [20]. Furthermore, PE fragments commonly form as a result of their embrittlement via environmental weathering, particularly by solar radiation, and persist in the environment for many years since PE is poorly biodegradable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, PE fragments commonly form as a result of their embrittlement via environmental weathering, particularly by solar radiation, and persist in the environment for many years since PE is poorly biodegradable. As an alternative to PE mulches, biodegradable plastic mulches (BDMs) are designed to be tilled into soil after the crop harvest, where they are expected to ultimately be decomposed by microorganisms [20][21][22]. The most prominent polymers used for BDMs are poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA), and poly(butylene-adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), thermoplastic starch, cellulose, polylactic acid and polyhydroxyalkanoates [20,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of soil particles and convective transport on dispersion and aggregation of nanoplastics via small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and ultra SANS (USANS)

et al. 2020

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Terrestrial nanoplastics (NPs) pose a serious threat to agricultural food production systems due to the potential harm of soil-born micro-and macroorganisms that promote soil fertility and ability of NPs to adsorb onto and penetrate into vegetables and other crops. Very little is known about the dispersion, fate and transport of NPs in soils. This is because of the challenges of analyzing terrestrial NPs by conventional microscopic techniques due to the low concentrations of NPs and absence of optical transparency in these systems. Herein, we investigate the potential utility of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and Ultra SANS (USANS) to probe the agglomeration behavior of NPs prepared from polybutyrate adipate terephthalate, a prominent biodegradable plastic used in agricultural mulching, in the presence of vermiculite, an artificial soil. SANS with the contrast matching technique was used to study the aggregation of NPs co-dispersed with vermiculite in aqueous media. We determined the contrast match point for vermiculite was 66% D 2 O / 33% H 2 O. At this condition, the signal for vermiculite was~50-100%-fold lower that obtained using neat H 2 O or D 2 O as solvent. According to SANS and USANS, smaller-sized NPs (50 nm) remained dispersed in water and did not undergo size reduction or self-agglomeration, nor formed agglomerates with vermiculite. Larger-sized NPs (300-1000 nm) formed self-agglomerates and agglomerates with vermiculite, demonstrating their significant adhesion with soil. However, employment of convective transport (simulated by ex situ stirring of the slurries prior to SANS and USANS analyses) reduced the self-agglomeration, demonstrating weak NP-NP interactions. Convective transport also led to size reduction of the larger-sized NPs. Therefore, this study demonstrates the potential utility of SANS and USANS with contrast matching technique for investigating behavior of terrestrial NPs in complex soil systems.

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Effect of chain extrender on the compatibility, mechanical and gas barrier properties of poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate)/poly(propylene carbonate) bio‐composites

Zhao

Xie

et al. 2021

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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Bio-composites consisting of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and epoxy chain extender ADR 4468 were fabricated via melt blending using a torque rheometer. The relationship of the torque, melt viscosity, and molecular weight of the bio-composites was established via polymeric liquid theory to estimate the real-time chain extension reaction rate under different ADR contents. At the meantime, rheological behavior, thermal and mechanical properties, morphologies, gas barrier properties of the PBAT/PPC/ADR bio-composites were systematically characterized. The corresponding results revealed that the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) reduced by 50% under 30 phr (parts per hundreds of resin) PPC content. The addition of ADR is beneficial to improve the mechanical properties, thermal stability and phase dispersion of PBAT/PPC without affecting the water barrier property. With 3 phr ADR, the tensile stress and elongation at break were increased from 19.5 MPa and 1184% to 26.9 MPa and 1443%, respectively. In addition, the data of the torque rheometer revealed that the chain extension reaction rate and the melt viscosity was increased with the increasing ADR content, but the reaction rate was reduced with the excessive viscosity.

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Biodegradable Plastic Mulch Films for Sustainable Specialty Crop Production

Cited by 42 publications

References 137 publications

Performance of Sweetpotato Varieties Grown Using Black Plastic Mulch in Pennsylvania

Performance of Sweetpotato Varieties Grown Using Black Plastic Mulch in Pennsylvania

Effects of soil particles and convective transport on dispersion and aggregation of nanoplastics via small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and ultra SANS (USANS)

Effect of chain extrender on the compatibility, mechanical and gas barrier properties of poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate)/poly(propylene carbonate) bio‐composites

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