article · Agronomy
This review highlights hydrogels, three-dimensional hydrophilic polymer networks, as a revolutionary solution for sustainable agriculture. They address critical global challenges such as food security, water scarcity, excessive pesticide use, and soil degradation. Hydrogels possess unique properties, including excellent water absorption capacity, biodegradability, and the ability to deliver nutrients and agrochemicals in a controlled manner. Their application can enhance crop resilience, increase yields, improve soil moisture retention, and facilitate seed germination. Furthermore, hydrogels have the potential to develop crop varieties with improved traits like disease, insect, and drought resistance. While offering economic benefits such as reduced irrigation and increased crop productivity, the review also stresses the importance of regulatory considerations regarding their safety, biodegradability, environmental impact, and long-term soil effects.
As global demands for food security and efficient water use intensify, hydrogels offer a promising pathway to more resilient and productive agricultural systems. By improving soil quality and crop performance, they can help mitigate the impacts of water scarcity and reduce reliance on traditional chemical inputs, contributing to a more sustainable future for farming.
Hydrogels represent a promising solution for agribusinesses and farmers seeking to enhance crop yields and resilience, particularly in water-stressed regions. Their ability to improve soil moisture retention and facilitate controlled delivery of agrochemicals suggests applications in smart farming and precision agriculture. While the abstract indicates significant development and prospects, it also highlights the need for regulatory considerations, suggesting these solutions are in an advanced applied research stage, moving towards market adoption once safety and environmental impacts are fully addressed.
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The growing global demands for food security, efficient water use, and environmentally resilient agricultural strategies call for a sustainable agricultural revolution. Water scarcity, the excessive use of pesticides, and soil degradation are viewed as threats to food security. Hydrogels, three-dimensional hydrophilic polymer networks, appear to be revolutionary solutions for the future. Hydrogels have emerged as a promising solution for enhancing crop resilience, enhancing crop yields, and agribusiness productivity. The development and prospects of hydrogels bring about a revolution in sustainable agriculture by focusing on their unique properties, including excellent water absorption capacity, biodegradability, and controlled nutrient/agrochemical delivery. Hydrogels have the potential to transform traditional farming practices into novel crop varieties with improved traits like disease resistance, insect resistance, and drought resistance. Hydrogels enhance soil moisture retention, thereby facilitating seed germination and establishment. Thus, it has been demonstrated that hydrogel application has a significant impact on soil quality and resilience under challenging conditions. With this in mind, this review emphasizes that hydrogels are the way forward for sustainable agriculture, taking into consideration the economic benefits like reduced irrigation and increased crop yields while highlighting the need for regulatory considerations in terms of their safety, biodegradability, environmental impact, and long-term soil effects.
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DOI: 10.3390/agronomy14122815
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