Estudo do desempenho de filmes biodegradáveis numa cultura de ciclo curto - escarola (Cichorium endivia L.)

Mestrado em Engenharia do Ambiente - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaIn this dissertation, the aim was to evaluate and compare the performance of biodegradable mulch relatively to conventional polyethylene. For this purpose three different “mulches” were tested: polyethylene (PE) and two biodegradable "Short Cycle" (SC) and "Salads" (S) developed from the Mater-Bi™ matrix. Escarole (Cichorium endivia L.) crop cycle was monitored along the experimental study implemented at real scale. The monitoring plan was developed to evaluate the crop productivity and the impact of the different “mulches” in terms of moisture and soil temperature. The results achieved during this study showed the adaptability of biodegradable plastics to the soil and weather conditions, checking a significant difference in productivity of plants covered with plastic S relative to the other two modes (PE and SC). Given that to date there is no biodegradation studies in the Alentejo region of Portugal soils, it was also important to check the level of biodegradability of these new plastic films following the norm DIN EN ISO 17556. The results obtained in this work can be concluded that biodegradable plastics seem like a good solution to replace the PE, yet research and development of these new plastics should continue to hol