Abstract
The population increase, urbanization and climatic change adversely affect the agricultural production have prompted actions to improve the means of production without affecting the environment. One of the actions to make the production of food more efficient and sustainable is the use of plastics in protection of crops, soils and packaging, for example. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop flat extruded mulch films of poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)/2.5 and 5.0% sugar cane residue/2.0% carnauba wax for application in soil cover and characterize them as to their chemical structure, morphology and transmittance. The FTIR results suggest that there was no chemical interaction between the components of the mulch films. SEM images and optical microscopy showed that the polymer matrix was able to cover sugarcane residues and that the carnauba wax dispersed well in the PBAT matrix. In addition, carnauba wax addition increased the transmittance of these mulch films.
Highlights
According to the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe, the world production of plastics in 2016 was 335 million tons, and 3.3 % of these plastics made in Europe are destined to plasticulture
Cellulose is a polysaccharide composed of a crystalline polymer with a regular structure, whose repeating unit is glucose, while hemicellulose is a polysaccharide formed by short branched chains containing pentoses and hexoses
The spectra of the pure PBAT, mulching films and the PBAT band amplification are presented in Figure 2, while Table 4 shows a summary of the wavenumbers and functional groups found in the PBAT spectra, sugarcane residue and carnauba wax
Summary
According to the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe, the world production of plastics in 2016 was 335 million tons, and 3.3 % of these plastics made in Europe are destined to plasticulture. Soil covering (mulching) may be performed with organic materials such as agricultural residues, animal waste (manure), industrial waste (sawdust) or inorganic materials including artificially obtained materials such as films of synthetic polymers and some bio and photodegradable polymer films[3]. Mulching is a method used to manipulate cultivation environment that increases crop yields and improves product quality by controlling soil temperature and humidity, as well as weed growth. When applied to the cultivation crops, PE helps to increase root growth resulting in better nutrient uptake before plant maturation, which results in higher fruit yield, better fruit quality, and a lower incidence of viral diseases[1,2]
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