REPORT ON AGRO TEXTILES

Md. Saidur Rahaman Shaid

MSc. in Textile Engineering

Daffodil International University 

“REPORT ON AGRO TEXTILES”

Introduction: Special textiles that are manufactured for agricultural applications. The four sectors combined together are popularly called as “Agrotech” sector

Ø  Agriculture

Ø  Horticulture

Ø  Forestry

Ø  Fishing

Agrotextiles: Agrotextiles are special textiles intended for use in agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and forestry in order to boost production, quality and protection from adverse climatic conditions.           

Agro Textiles

Properties Required for Agro Textiles:

Ø  Resistance to solar-radiation.

Ø  Resistance to ultraviolet radiation.

Ø  Biodegradability.

Ø  High potential to retain water.

Ø  Protection property.

Fibres in Agro Textiles:

Fibers used in agro textiles are as follows

Ø  Nylon

Ø  Polyester

Ø  Polyethylene

Ø  Polypropylene

Ø  Jute

Ø  Wool

Classification of Agro textiles:

On the basis of fabrics production technique:

•      Woven

•      Non woven

•      Knitted

Classification of Agro textiles:

On the basis of areas application:

a) Agro textiles for crop production (agriculture)

b) Agro textiles for horticulture (garden cultivation), floriculture and forestry        

c) Agro textiles for animal husbandry and aqua culture.

d) Agro textiles for agro packaging related applications.

Benefits of Agro textile Products:

Ø  Used in Protected Cultivation For Indian Agriculturists for improved Productivity & Quality Of Produce and lower Cost Of Production

Characteristics of agrotextiles:

v  Withstand solar and u.v radiations

v  Resistance to micro-organisms

v  High potential to retain water

v  Prevent the soil from drying out

v  Decrease the requirement of fertilisers, pesticides, water

v  Protects from climatic changes and its effects

Raw materials used for manufacturing agrotextiles:

•      Man-Made Fibers

–     E.g. polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, nylon, synthetic polymers  in different forms such as tape yarn, monofilament yarn , multifilament yarn

•      Natural Fibers

–     E.g. cotton, jute, wool etc

Factors influencing agricultural activities:

•         Sunlight – direct and indirect

•          Water

•          Climatic Conditions including wind, hail,

•           humidity

•          External factors like birds, insects, weeds

•          Post Harvest handling of produce – storage  

•           and packaging

•         In India, presently Agricultural Activities are carried out under Natural Conditions of Temperature and Humidity

Agro textile products:

1. Shade Nets/Fabrics
2. Anti-Bird Nets
3. Anti- Hailstone Nets
4. Harvesting Nets
5. Wind Protection Nets/Wind-Breaks
6. Fishing Nets
7. Tree Shelters 

Shade Nets/Fabrics:

v  The shade nets provide protection

      to the plants from wind,

      extreme weather conditions &

      reduce water evaporation.

      Polypropylene or HDPE in knitted or woven form .

v  Grape cultivation, orchid plantations, tea plantations, nurseries.

v  Shade percentage depends upon the application - 25% to 95%

Anti-bird Nets:

ü  Designed to exclude the birds

ü  Allow movement of bees and keeps shade to a minimum

ü  Polypropylene or HDPE monofilament yarn (UV stabilised) and knitted

 

Anti- Hailstone Nets:

ü  To prevent from hail damage

ü  It helps shield vines from the fruit damage and defoliation

ü  Orchard hail protection

ü  Vineyard hail protection

 Weed Control Fabric:

Ø  Prevents the growth and spread of weed.

Ø  Fabric promotes rapid and even plant growth and maintains higher soil temperatures.

Ø  This fabric is water permeable, it allows the soil to get warm, minimizes non-productive evaporation and prevents creation of soil crust

Harvesting Nets:

Ø  Harvesting nets are perfect for collecting fruits which fall off the tree when they are ripe.

Ø  Placed underneath the trees until the harvesting period is over

Ø  Polyethylene monofilaments

Wind Protection Nets:

Ø  Used to protect fields of young plants, trees or the harvest from being damaged by the wind.

Ø  Reduce the effects of high winds and even help to keep out airborne sand and salt in areas close to the sea.

Ø  Reduce the wind speed and increase the orchard temperature.

Structural Wind Protection

v  Reduces the heating and cooling costs by 10 – 40% in a greenhouse

Orchard wind control

v  Protect the orchard from damaging effects of wind, evaporation, fruit bruising, blossom and leaf damage, wind rub and shoot tip scorching.

Greenhouse Covers:

Ø  The green house covers are useful in nursery raising.

Ø  The covers are made of highly resistant to ripping, waterproof and UV resistant material.

Ø  It improve the greenhouse microclimate and heating costs, shield crops from cold winds and rain

Insect Repellent Meshes:

Ø  Protect plants from insect attack.

Ø  The insect meshes can also be used as a crops cover, screens for glasshouse doors and ventilation windows, greenhouse internal covers.

Ø  Polyethylene monofilament meshes.

Temperature Controlled Fabric:

 

Ø  Protects the crops from cold, frost, insects, wind and rain.

Ø  The temperature controlled fabric captures heat on sunny days, retain heat radiation from ground at night and also block night time winds.

 

Tree Shelters:

Ø  The tree shelter fabric protects young trees from animal damage, drying winds, defoliation and tip scorching.

Ø  A sheltered tree grows faster and healthier, as the water retention is improved, whereas the evaporation is reduced.

Packing Materials for Agri-Goods:

Ø  Packing sacks for vegetables.

Ø  Tubular packing nets for fruits.

Ø  Net structures are preferred because of their high strength, low weight, air permeability and cheapness.

Fishing Nets:

Ø  Fishing nets are knitted fabrics used for marine and inland fishing.

Ø  The basic characteristics for fishnets are transparency and invisibility in water.

Agro- Protective Garments:

Ø  Protecting farmers from harmful pesticides during farming.

Ø  Lightweight and cheaper.

Ø  Protect from pesticides.

Ø  Good breathable property and readily washable.

Animal Husbandry: 

Ø  Filtering of milk in an automatic milking system.

Ø  Identification belts of polyester and nylon material for animals identification.

Ø  Underlay to reduce the mud on cattle paths and trails.

Ø  Support for udders.

USE OF COIR IN AGRICULTURAL TEXTILES:

Ø  Bio Roll

Ø  Basket Liners

Ø  Mulch Blankets

Ø  Erosion Control Blankets For Controlling Slope Erosions

Ø  Roof Greening Mats

Ø  Grow Sticks

Ø  Coco Logs

Ø  Grow Media

Need of agro textiles:

v  They prevent the soil from drying.

v  Out and increase crop yield.

v  They improve product quality.

v  Agro textiles protect farmers.

v  From harmful pesticides.

v  Can save up to 40% energy in heating.

v  Greenhouses.

Properties required for agro textiles:

—  Performance ratio.

—  Ease of transport.

—  Space saving storage.

—  Long service life.

—  Resistance to solar radiation.

—  Resistance to ultraviolet radiation.

—  Biodegradability.

—  High potential to retain water.

—  Protection property

Fibers of agro textiles:

—  Among synthetic fibers, polyolefin fibers are extensively used.

—  Synthetic fibers are widely used in agro tech sector On the other hand natural fiber based agro textiles not only serve the specific purpose but also after some year degrade and act as natural fertilizers.

—  When we consider jute, wool, coir, sisal, flax and hemp fibers are the representative of natural fibers. Due to their high strength, durability and other suitable properties of agricultural applications.

Agro textile products where natural fibers can be used are as follows:

—  Weed management and agro-mulching.

—  Sapling bags.

—  Baler twines.

—  Bed for seed germination.

—  Packaging of agricultural products like seeds, food grains, sugar, vegetables, fertilizers, etc.

Natural fibers and their applications in agro textiles:

         The following are the some of the natural fibers:

—  Jute

—  Wool

—  Coir

Jute:

—  Jute is a natural fiber popularly known as the golden fiber.

—  It is one of the cheapest and the strongest of all natural fibers and considered as fiber of the future.

—  Jute is second only to cotton in world's production of textile fibers.

—  The intrinsic properties of jute have made it possible to develop different types of agro textiles suitable for specific applications.

Use of jute in agro textiles:

—  Jute agro textile is a kind of natural technical textile.

—  Usually either in woven or nonwoven form, made from 100% natural eco-friendly.

—  bats fiber of jute plant used on soil

—   To achieve higher agricultural productivity by improving agronomical characteristics of soil and by reducing growth of unwanted vegetation.

Wool:

—   Wool fibers are traditional raw materials for textiles.

—  According to the fiber diameter, they are designated to the clothing and interior textile industry.

—  Technical textile is the field in which, wool has made significant gains in recent years, building up on its various special characteristics.

—   A major advantage of using wool for technical purposes is that the fiber diameter plays a minor role here, and this allows also cheap wool

Uses of wool in agro textiles:

—   Wool has better insulation properties under moist condition than poly propylene and can prevent seedling damage from ground frost thus enabling earlier sowing and a longer growing season.

—   The wool keeps the soil temperature constant

—   When we compared with black plastic, does not give a wind tunnel effect, which dries out the soil.

COIR

•      Coir is a biodegradable organic fiber.

•       It is much hardest among other natural fiber.

•       It has much more advantageous in different application for agricultural textiles.

•       Coir is used commercially for the manufacture of wide range of products for various end-use applications.

Use of Coir in Agricultural Textiles:

•      Coir being having the strong characteristics of retention of moisture is preferred for the agricultural applications.

•      It is naturally resistant to rot, moulds and moisture.

•      To suit specific applications, the coir fiber can be used as thus or by making a suitable product, which adapts the specific needs.

•       Coir can be converted to coir yarn and then to woven mesh matting, which is used mainly controlling soil erosion and conditioning the soil.

•       One more conversion of coir is to coir nonwoven, which is also used for controlling erosion.

•      The coir fiber is also used for coco logs and coco beds for shore protection and stream banks. 

Recommended shade% according to type of crop:

Type of Crop	Recommended shading by manufacturers
Roses, Strawberries, Gooseberries, Tomatoes, Cucumber and fruit bearing plants	25%
Pot and foliage plants and Cut greens, Orchids, Anthuriums, Ginger	50%
Indoor plants, Orchids, Plantation crops, Tea, Coffee, Cardamom	75%
Cattle sheds, Poultry houses, and vehicular shades	95%

Advantages:

•      Using MMF’S

–      Favourable price, easy to transport and setting up, space saving, durability etc .

•      Using Natural fibres

–      Biodegradability but has low service life as compared to synthetics.

Conclusion: Agro textile plays a significant role to help control environment for crop production, eliminate variations in climate, weather change and generate optimum condition for plant growth. Thus, the need of textile goods in the field of agriculture has been stressed and   their role in the reduced usage of harmful pesticides and herbicides to render a healthy farming culture underlined. Unique manufacturing techniques and properties of this blend of agro-textile sector products whose cost is lesser than that of pesticides and chemical herbicides have been emphasized. Textiles prove to be flexible in their suitability for specific geographical locations. So now it is our turn, to carefully and beautifully shape this infant technology, to contribute to the nation's economy.