Mulch Plastic Systems: Recent Advances and Applications

Abstract

In the field of agriculture, the introduction of mulches revolutionized the commercial production of some vegetables, fruits and grain crops due to its instant economic benefits such as higher yields and improved crop quality. While the agricultural surface assisted with mulching films shows growing demand throughout the world, the sustainability of these films remains vague in terms of both an environmental and agronomic perspective. This chapter describes the evolution of the films used with special attention to the associated problems of undesirable end-of-life of non-biodegradable plastic mulch (non-BDM) films as compared with BDM designed to degrade without hazard to biota. Current trends in future, new production techniques for these films such as electrospinning as well as standardized laboratory testing processes are also discussed.