Biopolymer-based hydrogels for agriculture applications: water retention capacity and slow delivery of agrochemicals

BÁRBARA TOMADONI; CASALONGUÉ, CLAUDIA A.; ALVAREZ VERA

Polymers for Agri-Food Applications

Springer Nature

Año: 2019; p. 45 - 66

t Hydrogels are cross-linked polymers that can absorb and hold largeamounts of water and aqueous solutions due to the presence of hydrophilic functional groups in their 3D network. These materials also serve as vehicles of differentactive compounds because they can regulate their release rate. Because of suchproperties, hydrogels are currently used in many areas including agriculture, mainlyas water retention agents for soil conditioning, and as carriers of agrochemicals fortheir slow or sustained-release. However, most of the hydrogels currently availableon the market are based on polyacrylamide and acrylate derivatives, which meansthat they are not completely biodegradable, i.e. are considered as potential soil contaminants and present certain degree of toxicity. In this context, the development ofbiodegradable hydrogels for their use in agriculture is gaining interest worldwide.Biopolymers such as chitosan, cellulose, alginate and their derivatives are beingexplored due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability and low cost. Briefly, in thischapter, recent studies on biopolymer-based hydrogels for their use in agricultureare discussed in terms of their synthesis, swelling behavior, as well as their uses forslow and controlled release of agrochemicals