Agrooter® - Skillful Natural Tubes to Enhance Soil Productivity and Manage Hydric Stress

Abstract

Agrooter® is a Hungarian patent created by the first author, tested in several field experiments in Hungary and recently in some African countries. The point of the invention is that small tubes are mixed into the fertile soil, which keeps moisture or air in the soil, depending on their position. In the case of an entirely random distribution of the tubes within the soil, the tubes achieve both advantages. The point of this patent is the carefully designed size and amount of empty tubes fabricated from organic bio-degradable materials and micro-grinded specific minerals. Using these tubes in the plantations helps to avoid hydric stress and increases yield and improves quality. These small particles improve the water budget (significantly decreases water demand) and enhance the soil’s porosity. After the description of the principle of the tubes, including the positive impact of the tubes on micro-biotic life in the soil, technical advice is also presented on the optimum amounts of mixing the tubes into the soil, and ways of planting are illustrated for plant seedlings and tree saplings. Finally, six different plants planted and observed in Hungary demonstrate the usefulness of these effects. The most common feature of these results is that significant improvements are obtained by using the Agrooter® compared to the traditional plantation by using a 50% smaller amount of irrigation water.