While the usage of biodegradable plastics (bioplastics) can serve as an alternative to traditional polyethylene in agriculture, these products are designed to meet degradability standards in industrial composters, rather than agricultural soils. To prevent the accumulation of plastic residue from partially deconstructed agricultural films, it is imperative to create conditions that stimulate the deconstruction and mineralization of these bioplastics. The degradation of bioplastics occurs through a series of oxidation and hydrolysis steps by the metabolism or enzyme secretion of microorganisms, particularly bacteria and fungi. Environmental conditions such as temperature, acidity, and UV can help make the substrate easier for the organisms to degrade. Biosolarization is a biological control technique that utilizes plastic mulch film to trap solar radiation to heat soil, and organic amendments as a source of microbial inoculum. As microbial respiration increases, the available oxygen is depleted, turning the system anaerobic. This induces fermentative organic acid production, lowering the soil pH. Once the film is removed, the environment once again becomes aerobic. We hypothesize that the environmental conditions created by biosolarization will pre-treat the bioplastic and select for microbial communities capable of utilizing the bioplastic substrate, thereby enhancing the magnitude of degradation. Preliminary results suggest that the bioplastic mulch film undergoes visible changes after biosolarization treatment. CO<sub>2</sub> evolution and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to track bioplastic degradation.

Degradation of bioplastics in agricultural soils using biosolarization

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ACS Fall 2022

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