Despite their benefits in boosting crop yields and farmers' incomes, traditional plastic films used on over 50 million hectares of global farmland have created a significant "white pollution" problem. This poses a threat to agricultural production and the environment, highlighting the urgent need for cost-effective, high-performance biodegradable alternatives.

To address this challenge, a team led by Professor Li Qiang of Huazhong Agricultural University's College of Engineering has developed a groundbreaking biodegradable film made from straw. The team's innovation began with "cell wall engineering" to modify the straw's molecular structure, allowing it to blend effectively with other biodegradable polymers. This breakthrough enabled the team to produce a blow-molded film from the straw composite, reducing the raw material cost by 40 percent.

The team also created a straw-derived lignin plasticizer, which is a green alternative to traditional industrial plasticizers. This not only enhances the film's mechanical properties — improving tensile strength and elongation by a factor of two to four — but also allows it to withstand an entire crop cycle.

The technology can precisely control the film's degradation period, from 40 to 180 days, to match the growth cycles of different crops. The film has been applied to crops like rice, sugarcane, and corn in provinces such as Yunnan and Sichuan, leading to significant increases in yield and income.

According to Professor Li, the straw-based film's cost per mu (0.067 hectare) is only 60 percent that of commercially available PBAT films, giving it a significant market advantage. He noted that if China's entire annual demand for 1.6 million metric tons of agricultural film were met with this new material, it could increase the value of straw 150-fold, solving the problem of straw burning while also protecting farmland. This innovation offers a win-win solution for both the environment and the economy.

Students and faculty from Professor Li Qiang's team conduct field experiments. [Photo/WeChat account: hzau_news_center]