With the environmental and health concerns, biosurfactants have obtained increasingly interests in trying to replacing conventional surfactants in agriculture. This paper examined the applicability of rhamnolipid (RL), one of the most famous biosurfactants, as a healthy/environment-friendly adjuvant in agrochemicals. RLs at a low concentration of 50 mg/L (1x critical micellar concentration, CMC) were found to significantly fascinate the penetration of two small water-soluble molecules, phenol red and Fe2+, across both artificial and cuticular membrane (CM) as at same efficiency as alkyl polyglucoside (APG) at 1xCMC of 900 mg/L. Also, RL, similar to APG, significantly improved the effectiveness of herbicide glyphosate on plants, indexed by chlorophyll contents. Moreover, RL showed a better wettability and surface activities than APG, indicative of its high effectiveness as surfactants. Hence, RL could provide at least the same applicability as APG and show a much more promising future in agriculture due to their outstanding properties on health/environmental friendliness.

Rhamnolipids as biosurfactants for stimulating foliar uptake

248th National Meeting (2014)

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