【XWBOO Technical Article】 Mulch is a tool often used in agriculture to raise soil temperature, maintain soil moisture, improve fertilization, maintain soil structure, prevent pests from attacking crops and diseases caused by certain microorganisms, etc. It can protect and promote crop growth.
According to statistics, a thin layer of mulch can be used on more than 40 kinds of crops, including grain, cotton, oil, vegetables, fruits, tobacco, sugar, medicine, hemp, tea and forestry, and can increase crop yields by 30 to 50 percent, while being simple to operate.
But at the same time, mulch has a very serious problem - plastic pollution. Since most mulch is made from PE film, as long as it is made from polyethylene, the plastic film remains in the soil after the crop is harvested, making it difficult to degrade and contaminating the soil. And for most farmer groups, it is not easy to properly and effectively recycle discarded mulch. Instead of being used for moisture retention, insulation and weed control, mulch has become the "culprit" of soil consolidation, and mulch is caught in the contradiction of "to use or not to use" and "to manage or not to manage". The situation has changed in the last two years.
But the situation has taken a turn for the better in the last two years. A research team at the Institute of Materials Technology has developed a special biodegradable film made from poly(adipic acid/butylene terephthalate) (PBAT) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA), with biomass straw, wine lees and inorganic fillers as fillers, and using chemical modification, physical blending and process control technologies. It is able to replace traditional mulch film to achieve the functions of heat preservation, water retention, soil retention and fee retention, while taking into account the important advantage of self-degradation. Moreover, the degradation process also releases biomass components to enhance soil fertility in preparation for the next round of planting. It is worth mentioning that this new technology has already been put into use in rural areas in Guizhou and other places, and the results are considerable and affirmed by the villagers.
However, there is some controversy about the environmental value of biodegradable films, and some studies have indicated that even if biodegradable films are used, they will have a negative impact on the soil during the degradation process. Therefore, it is argued that agricultural mulch itself, as an agricultural aid, is not friendly to the long-term development of agriculture if children rely on the degradation ability of the material itself. In other words, the use of degradable materials should be accompanied by enhanced testing and monitoring of the soil, and a sound system for the use and recycling of mulch should be established, linking use, treatment and long-term management from the beginning, to fundamentally maintain the long-term health of the soil environment.
Overall, however, the prospects for technology in this area of environmental protection are always advancing in a favorable direction, and we need to give technology development time and recognition. At the same time, the basic policy of developing while governing cannot be shifted, we also need to use modern detection technology to promote the application and development of technology in regulation to ensure the environment while stabilizing the development of agriculture.
