With the increased interest in urban farming, starter plant plugs are popularly used, especially for aeroponics, hydroponics, and aquaponics. Water needs to be added appropriately so that seeds can germinate in the starter plant plugs. Climate change studies, on the other hand, have documented clear warming trends globally, which will ultimately result in higher surface temperatures. It is expected that higher surface temperatures will lead to increased evapotranspiration, deteriorating the capacity of agricultural soils for holding water and nutrients, especially in arid and semiarid areas where evaporation and evapotranspiration are more grievous. Starter plant plugs will face the same challenge and will need to be watered more frequently. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have the capacity to extract moisture from the atmosphere and can therefore obviate the water need for starter plant plugs.<br/><br/>The use of CNCs depends largely on their source, composition, crystal and pore structure, and preparation or fabrication processes. CNCs can be isolated from agricultural waste by chemical or mechanical induction to remove the amorphous regions. For this research, we used cryocrushing and enzymatic hydrolysis to extract cellulose and CNCs, respectively. The crystallite size and crystallinity of the resulting CNCs were characterized by using wide-angle and small-angle X-ray scattering, and a Bruker NanoSTAR system equipped with an Incoatec microfocus X-ray source (IμS) at 45 kV and 650 μA. The dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) method was then used to examine the CNCs’ water-vapor-extraction capability. Finally, the CNCs were incorporated into starter plant plugs, and lettuce seed germination with minimal irrigation was successfully demonstrated.

Cellulose nanocrystals for starter plant plugs

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ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.