Agro-Plastics and Their Bio-Polymeric Substitutions for Sustainable Agriculture
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 March 2025 | Viewed by 25
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biodegradable agriculture mulching; lignocellulosic biomass; biopolymers; bioplastics; microplastics and nanoplastics; sustainable agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: biodegradable agricultural mulching; agriculture practice; agroplastic-related pollution; crop science
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sustainable development represents an emergent challenge for our society, particularly as the current food supply will not be able to meet demand if the global population increases to 9 billion by 2050. However, sustainable agriculture offers an opportunity to address the food crisis. Nevertheless, it is clear that plastic pollution poses a challenge to the development of modern agriculture. The major issues include the pollution of the agricultural biosystem caused by the utilization of plastic, the use of microplastics/nanoplastics, the release of plasticizers from agro-plastics, and the impact of such substances on crop health and the quality and yield of crops. Current solutions attempt to reduce the utilization of agro-plastics, recycle used agro-plastics, and substitute traditional synthetic polymers for non-biodegradable plastics. This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of technical breakthroughs, innovations, and fundamental insights into the nexus of biopolymer–crop–agricultural sustainability. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:
- Traditional polymers for agriculture mulching and its associated pollution in agriculture;
- Novel biodegradable polymers for agriculture mulching;
- Polymers for plastic films for greenhouse cultivation and composting;
- Polymers for plastic tubes for drip irrigation;
- Polymers for the plastic packaging of agrochemicals;
- Polymers for the plastic packaging of food;
- The use of polymeric materials to facilitate water and energy consumption in agriculture;
- Biopolymers from crop and plant components for biodegradable plastics;
- Microplastics and nanoplastics released from agroplastics and their impacts;
- Plasticizers and small molecules released from agro-plastics and their impacts;
- The use of biodegradable and biorenewable polymerical materials to enable sustainable agriculture;
- Inter-communications between agro-plastics and crops.
Prof. Dr. Qiang Li
Dr. Yan Yan
Dr. Hairong Gao
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
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Keywords
- biomaterials
- lignin composite
- structural modification
- biodegradable polymers
- nanostructured materials
- sustainable polymers/polymer composites
- functional biopolymers
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