Production and Application of Engineered Waste Jute Entangled Sheet for Soil Cover: A Green System

Abstract

Soil covering for weed control and moisture retention during cultivation is an age-old practice. Presently, the thin polyethylene sheet is widely used for this purpose. In this study, a uniform, porous and bulky mechanically entangled fibrous sheet from eco-friendly and natural, low-grade/process waste jute fibre has been designed for strawberry cultivation. The agricultural performance of this engineered textile material has been compared with the commonly used polyetheylene sheet and traditionally used sawdust, straw and banana leaf in the same strawberry field under same conditions using random complete block design with three replicas. It was observed that process waste jute nonwoven shows better performance than other materials. Among other natural materials, straw gives good results. Hence, the application of jute nonwoven promotes the bio-waste utilization for the sustainable and green agriculture and is a promising alternative as a soil cover.