Functionalized Cellulose Sheets with Fertilizers Applied as Multimodal Agricultural Supports for Seedling Cultivation

Abstract

Agricultural products such as seedling tubes are often made of nondegradable petroleum-based polymers. Little progress has been made in developing sustainable and active supports for seedling cultivation that enable acclimatization time reduction of certain seedlings. Thus, the aim of this work was to manufacture multimodal sheet tubes functionalized with fertilizers and hydrophobized with carnauba emulsion for pineapple seedling cultivation. Energy dispersive spectroscopy and flame atomic absorption spectrometry demonstrated the fibers’ homogeneous distribution and efficient release of nutrients. As a proof-of-concept, these tubes provided better development of pineapple seedlings in comparison to the control, increasing the number, length, and width of the seedlings’ leaves by more than 15%, 40%, and 50%, respectively. The coating with carnauba emulsion guaranteed the physical integrity of sheet tubes in the greenhouse until their planting. These findings may pave the way for a new alternative of sustainable agricultural supports for seedling cultivation.