Mechanical characterization of blends containing recycled paper pulp and other lignocellulosic materials to develop hydromulches for weed control

Hydromulch spreading as a crop and land management technique might show important advantages over plastic films. Pulp from recovered paper and cardboard coming from paper mills, blended with several additives to develop biodegradable hydromulches, could be spread for weed control in perennial crops such as fruit orchards and vineyards. In the present work, 24 blends were prepared by mixing paper pulp with different additives: (a) wheat straw, rice hulls, and substrate used for mushroom cultivation on the one hand as fillers, and (b) rice bran, white glue, sodium silicate and powered gypsum on the other hand as agglomerating agents. The blends were tested with a texture analyser to evaluate their mechanical properties, testing the puncture resistance (24 blends) and the tensile strength (15 blends). Scanning electron photomicrographs of some blends were obtained in order to explore the relationship between their components and the mechanical properties. The results indicate the advisability of using a blend prepared with paper pulp, wheat straw (sieved at 2.5 mm) and gypsum. An environmentally controlled experiment was performed on this and another hydromulch in which rice husk substituted wheat straw to evaluate their efficiency for reducing seedling weed emergence, using propagules of four common summer weeds. The barrier effect of the hydromulches reduced seedling emergence from 64.6% to 95.9%. In general, the percentage of dead seedlings underneath was greater than that which passed through the barrier, making the hydromulches promising tools for preventing seedling emergence and for managing the weed seed bank in field conditions