Project Number: 3607-21000-015-19
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 03, 2008
End Date: Jun 30, 2010

Objective:
Develop hydrogels (water-holding polymers) for agricultural applications, particularly for greenhouses growing ornamental plants to address issues of adequate moisture and nutrient delivery. Initially, efforts will be focused on modifying polyacrylamide hydrogels to ensure their slow release of absorbed water in soils. If this is not possible, then a new approach to moisture retention will be developed. This will consist of a bi-layer hydrogel that will provide the properties of high water absorption, slow water release and adequate hydrogel strength. These hydrogels have a more crosslinked and less porous outer layer and a soft, high water absorbing inner layer.

Approach:
Commercially available hydrogels will serve as an industry standard, control product. However, since manufacturers of the product do not disclose their "recipe" for making the gels, we will re-create the commercially available gels and use some physical properties and an understanding of polymer properties to simulate those products. From that baseline, we will alter the polymer base unit (in this case, acrylamide) and introduce new polymers (polylactic acid, for example) to improve upon those physical properties that are not suitable for horticultural applications. These include the tendencies of the polymer to not fully hydrate when salt is present, poor mechanical strength, and decreasing performance over time. Small batches of the gels will be tested in Toledo, OH worksite of ATRU for hydration capacity, re-hydration capacity, salt tolerance, etc. When suitable products are found, larger batches will be synthesized in amounts suitable for field testing. This field testing will be done in greenhouses at the Plant Science Research Center on the University of Toledo's main campus.