Fabricating Biodegradable Mulches

Considerable effort has been made in the last 25 years by industry, academia, and government laboratories to develop biodegradable mulches which can be plowed into the soil at the end of the growing season, to subsequently become fully mineralized into carbon dioxide and water during succeeding months. This presentation will provide a review of biodegradable mulch research and development from a historical and materials-related perspective, and present the current state-of-the-art, including feedstock performance and biodegradability. Recent research by the authors on the development of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based biodegradable mulches fabricated by using nonwovens textile technology will also be presented. Preliminary findings on performance of these PLA mulches as assessed through soil burial in greenhouse experiments in Tennessee, and in field trials with high tunnels and open fields in Tennessee, Texas, and Washington State will also be included.