Pusa Hydrogel

Introduction

The Hydrogels has been extensively reported the world wide as well as in India for diverse applications, including agriculture. There have been efforts to utilize these materials as water economy aid in agriculture. However, their serious constraints like fragile structure of hydrogels particularly at higher temperatures, high rate of biodegradability, reduced water absorption capacity under practical use situations, purely synthetic origin, etc have restricted in their promotion and use in agriculture. A process has been developed for preparation of new type of hydrogel which overcomes such limitations.

 

Features

•  Natural polymer backbone based water absorber based on cross-linked Potassium polyacrylate polymer

•  Exhibits maximum absorbency at temperatures (40- 50  0  C) characteristic of semi-arid and arid soils.

•  Absorbs water 400 times it dry weight and gradually releases the same.

•  Stable in soil for a minimum period of one year

•  Less affected by salts

•  Low rates of soil application – 1-2 kg / ha for nursery horticultural crops; 2.5-5 kg/ ha for field crops

•  Reduces leaching of herbicides and fertilizers.

 

 

Advantages:

 

•  Improves soil quality, preserves water and resists drought stress

•  Increases seed sprouting and seedling development leading to better farm success

•  From the environmental aspects, it is non-polluting and biodegradable, helps in reducing irrigation frequency and water consumption and creates a simple cyclic process to provide water directly to roots and prevent soil compaction.

•  In agriculture and agroforestry, It act as micro water reservoirs at plant roots. They absorb natural and supplied water 400-500 times their own weight and release it slowly on account of root capillary suction mechanism thus preventing water loss in soil by leaching and evaporation.

•  It form a consistent cyclic process of absorption and release of water; the water so released can provide optimum moisture for quick germination and seedling maturation. Thus it reduces seedling mortality by several folds in nurseries.

•  In cold regions, death during germination and maturation is common due to moisture freezing in & around plant root tissue. Absorbed moisture in hydrogels does not freeze and makes easy accessibility to plants. It also regulates seedling growth temperature preventing death by freezing.

•  It can help save water and labor by reducing irrigation frequency, help overcome drought conditions and act as soil conditioners, prevent leaching in sandy soils, runoffs in mountainous and sloping fields, improve virescence efficiency and restore soil biota.

•  It can reduce overuse of fertilizers and pesticides in fields. The chemicals so absorbed with water are slowly released thus extending the operational life and uptake efficacy by root systems.

•  It act as soil matter flocculants. They closely bind loose soil thus forming loams that can help better root latching. Simultaneously, the repeated absorb-release mechanism prevents over compaction of soil minerals and provides space for aeration and development of soil edaphon.

•  It has a wide area of application ranging from agriculture, forestry, industrial planting, municipal gardening, drought management, water conservation, It helps reduce soil erosion by surface run-offs, fertilizer and pesticide leaching to ground water, reducing cost of water and irrigation and success rate at growth and high yields of crops.

For further information please contact :

National Research Development Corporation
20-22, Zamroodhpur Community Centre
Kailash Colony Extn.
New Delhi - 110048