Hydrogel agriculture

Common hydrogel agriculture's ingredient is potassium polyacrylate or sodium polyacrylate. As a superabsorbent material, it can absorb plenty of water and turn water to gel to store water.

Hydrogel agriculture technology uses insoluble gel-forming polymers to improve the water-holding properties of different soils, such as clays and sandy loams. This can increase water-holding and water use (up to 85% for sand), improve soil permeability, reduce the need for irrigation, reduce compaction, soil erosion, and leaching, and improve plant growth.

Desertification and lack of water threaten agriculture in many arid and semi-arid regions of the world; these may be mitigated with hydrogels.[1]

  1. ^ Vundavallia, Ramesh (2015). "Biodegradable Nano-Hydrogels in Agricultural Farming-Alternative Source For Water Resources". Procedia Materials Science. 10: 548–554. doi:10.1016/j.mspro.2015.06.005.