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Impact of Agricultural Weathering on Physicochemical Properties of Biodegradable Plastic Mulch Films: Comparison of Two Diverse Climates Over Four Successive Years

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Abstract

Biodegradable plastic mulch films (BDMs) are essential in the production of vegetable and specialty crops due to their promotion of increased crop yield and quality. Unlike conventional polyethylene (PE) mulches, BDMs can be tilled into the soil after crop harvest to undergo biodegradation, thereby leading to minimal environmental impact. Agricultural weathering impacts both the performance of BDMs during crop production as a barrier to weeds and biodegradability of BDMs in the soil. To better understand the relative importance of climatic factors, the change of physicochemical properties of BDMs during single-season, 3–4 month, field trials for vegetable production at two diverse climates (Knoxville, TN and Mount Vernon, WA) across four successive years (2015–2018) was evaluated. Mulch treatments consisted of four commercially available BDMs composed primarily of polybutylene co-adipate- co-terephthalate (PBAT) that differed in color and polymeric feedstock, a black experimental BDM prepared from polylactic acid/polyhydroxybutyrate (PLA/PHA) blend, and conventional PE mulch. Solar radiation, an important factor to degradation of mulches, was higher in WA than TN in most sampling years. Yet, degradation occurred more greatly for BDMs in TN, which is attributable to higher temperatures in TN. Mulch deterioration did not very extensively between years. Loss of mechanical properties and color was greater than chemical property changes. Differences in the extent of molecular weight decrease between years correlated significantly with solar radiation exposure at the two locations. A black-colored PBAT-based BDM was less susceptible to degradation than equivalent clear and white-on-black films, due to carbon black acting as a photostabilizer. The impact of weathering also differed between three commercially available PBAT-based films. The PLA/PHA mulch was more susceptible to degradation than PBAT-based BDMs, particularly in the warmer location, TN, partially due to a leaching out of PHA and lower-molecular weight polymer molecules. The extent of change for physicochemical properties of BDMs due to agricultural weathering is greatly affected by polymeric composition, and is greater in warmer climates.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkkzh.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the USDA Specialty Crops Research Initiative (Award 2014-51181-22382). We thank BioBag Americas (Dunedin, FL, USA), Organix Solutions (Maple Grove, MN, USA), and DuBois Agrinovation (Saint-Rémi, QC, Canada) for the kind donation of mulch films to our study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, University of Tennessee, 2506 E.J. Chapman Drive, Knoxville, TN, 37996-4531, USA

    Marife B. Anunciado, Douglas G. Hayes, Larry C. Wadsworth, Marie E. English, Sean M. Schaeffer & Markus Flury

  2. College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences – Cooperative Extension, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Henry Y. Sintim & Markus Flury

  3. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA

    Henry Y. Sintim

  4. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Puyallup, WA, 98371, USA

    Henry Y. Sintim

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  1. Marife B. Anunciado
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  2. Douglas G. Hayes
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  3. Larry C. Wadsworth
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  4. Marie E. English
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design and were involved with the retrieval of mulch specimen from our ongoing field studies. Anunciado and Wadsworth performed the measurements of the physicochemical properties of the mulches, while Sintim, Flury, English, and Schaeffer collected and analyzed the environmental data at the two field sites. Anunciado performed statistical analysis of the physicochemical property data, while Anunciado, Hayes, and Wadsworth analyzed the same data. Anunciado and Hayes wrote the first draft of the manuscript and all authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript and read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Douglas G. Hayes.

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Anunciado, M.B., Hayes, D.G., Wadsworth, L.C. et al. Impact of Agricultural Weathering on Physicochemical Properties of Biodegradable Plastic Mulch Films: Comparison of Two Diverse Climates Over Four Successive Years. J Polym Environ 29, 1–16 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-020-01853-1

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