Fighting The Drought With Fruit Peels

Research Dry weather conditions and lack regular rainfall encourages water conservative technology of Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs). SAPs have great water absorption capacity relative to its own weight which improves soil moisture and hence reduces water stress on the plant during prolonged drought stress condition and during irrigation intervals. This technology is rather uncommon to local farmers due to various reasons, such as market availability and high retail cost.  Most commercially found SAPs used in agriculture are prepared from acrylic acid and cross-linked by solution or suspension polymerization. However, post consequences of commercial SAP absorbed by the root of the plant, ultimately penetrate into the roots of crops and may cause noxious effects on the consumers. Current manufacture of SAPs involve toxic residual byproducts which have the ability to heavily pollute the environment .The use of Starch-based and Pectin-based SAPs have been developed, however these compounds are all still cross-linked chemically, not fully biodegradable, does not have as high water retaining properties as chemically based SAPs and have high market prices. The commercial price of chemically based SAPs are 1,20,000 to 2,00,000 rupees(INR) per ton.

Rainwater falling on the plant seeps out of the soil and evaporates How do SAPs work? A plant treated with SAPs A plant treated without SAPs Rainwater falling on the plant seeps out of the soil and evaporates Rainwater falling out the plant collects in the SAP and keeps the plants hydrated A hand drawn image to illustrate the use of SAPs in agriculture

I sought to create a product that can improve soil quality, preserve water and resist drought therefore producing a better environment for crops grow. It is must be harmless and non-polluting with super water absorbing ability and water preserving ability while the absorbed water cannot be easily removed when applied to soil subject to microbiological degradation as a result of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.  The SAP makes use of naturally found polysaccharide in orange peels, naturally occurring oils in avocado skins and is thermally cross-linked. The product is fully biodegradable, low-cost and has better water retaining properties than commercial SAPs.

Preparation of Orange Samples Description of Experimental Method Preparation of Orange Samples Step 1 Three full oranges were peeled The orange peels were kept in a bowl and 15ml of lemon juice was added to the peels, and left for 1 hour...

Step 2 3. The orange peels were placed in a stainless pot and 100 ml of water was added 4. The orange peels were boiled for 45 mins, until all the liquid evaporated . Step 3 5. The orange peels were removed from the pot and placed over a towel to remove excess liquid. 60g of the excess liquid were used as the first variable, termed ‘Orange peel solution.’ Store excess liquid. 6. The peels were then cut up into extremely fine pieces

Step 4 7. One avocado was peeled 8. The skin of the avocado was cut up into extremely fine pieces 9. The avocado skin was added to the orange skin and left in sunlight for 14 days

Step 5 10. 90 g of the dried orange and avocado skin was added to 80ml of stored orange liquid strained previously 11. The mixture was then placed in an oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 20 mins 12. The mixture was removed from the oven and crushed into a fine powder. 60 g of the powder produced was the second orange peel variable termed ‘Orange peel powder.’ The rest of the powder was stored.

Step 6 13. The 40g of the stored powder made was added to 20 g of the avocado and orange peel mixture that was sundried 14. This powder was physically mixed to combine. This produced the third orange peel variable termed, ‘Orange peel Mixture.’ 15. The products: Three various Orange peel variables that are ready to undergo experimentation

Calculating water retaining ability 5g of the starch based, pectin based, acrylic based and three orange peel variables were placed into 6 separate glass beakers. 200ml of distilled water was added to each beaker. Each beaker was left for 10mins.

(gs - gi) gi Water Absorption Formula gs- is the weight of the swollen sample gi- is the initial weight or net weight of the sample (gs - gi) gi

Water absorption experiment 5 g Pectin SAP; 5 g Acrylic SAP; 5 g Starch SAP 5 g ‘Orange peel Solution’; 5 g ‘Orange peel Powder’; 5 g ‘Orange peel Mixture’ Positive Control Group Experimental Group Water absorption experiment

Monitoring Soil Moisture of plain topsoil (Soil Sample Preparations) Seven planting containers were filled with 1 kg of top soil. Each pot received a different sample or variable.  25g of Starch SAP, 25g of Pectin SAP and 25g of Acrylic SAP served as the positive control group; 25g of Orange peel powder, 25g of orange peel solution and 25g of orange peel mixture served as the experimental group; and one planting container containing no sample served as the control. Each sample was mixed with the soil and saturated with 100ml of water on day 0. No additional watering was performed during the experimental period, which lasted 21 days. 

Monitoring Soil Moisture A soil moisture meter was used in this experiment. Soil moisture was taken at 7pm every day for 21 days. The moisture meter was inserted 4cm deep into each pot and the reading was taken. The reading was taken from five different locations in each pot and the average readings were measured and recorded.

Monitoring Soil Moisture and Growth of the Ocimum Sanctum The next experiment was performed to observe the effect of the 'Orange peel mixture' on the growth of plants, applying the results of the soil experiment in a real-life situation.  Planting pots were used again to store the Ocimum Sanctum plants used in this experiment. 1 kg of topsoil was used as the control; 25 g of 'Orange peel mixture' was used as an experiment group; 25 g of acrylic SAP mixed up with 1 kg of topsoil was used as positive control. The plants used in this experiment were Ocimum sanctum and they were all of the same size as of Day 0. To saturate each pot, 100 ml of water was used on Day 0. As in the soil experiment, no additional watering was done after Day 0. The soil moisture, number of growing flowers and plant height in cm were measured and recorded each day for 20 days.

Result It was observed that with application to the water absorption formula, the 'Orange peel mixture' displayed the strongest water absorbing abilities of 76.1%. The acrylic SAP displayed a water absorbing ability of 74.7%, whilst the Pectin, starch, 'Orange peel powder' and 'Orange peel solution' SAPs fell under 70%.

Soil Moisture Measurements of plain topsoil These results indicated that the three orange peel variables, acrylic SAP, starch SAP and Pectin SAP all had significantly greater soil moisture levels compared to the control after Day 10. Twenty-one days after the initial watering on Day 0, the soil moisture in the pots containing the 'Orange peel powder', 'Orange peel mixture', starch SAP and acrylic SAP remained at moisture levels of 3.8 to 4.8. These moisture levels are also plant growth friendly. This experiment also indicates that there was no significant difference between the 'Orange peel mixture' and 'Acrylic SAP' in soil water retention.

The results indicated that all three variables of orange peel significantly increased moisture levels compared to regular topsoil. However, when analyzing the results in was apparent that the 'Orange peel mixture' had greater soil water retention than the other orange peel variables. As a result, the 'Orange peel mixture' was chosen for future experiments.

Experiments have indicated that 'Orange peel mixture', starch SAP, acrylic SAP and Pectin SAP yield significantly higher soil moisture levels than the control. Both the acrylic SAP and the 'Orange peel mixture' retained significantly more moisture than starch SAP and Pectin SAP; hence, acrylic SAP and the 'Orange peel mixture' were only used in the Ocimum Sanctum growth experiments.

Effect of the reagents on the Ocimum Sanctum Soil Moisture of the Ocimum Sanctum The results shown in indicate that both the 'Orange peel mixture' and the acrylic SAP contained significantly greater soil moisture levels. The soil moisture level of the control group declined rapidly; by Day 10 of the experiment, the soil had already dried up in the control. Meanwhile, both the 'Orange peel mixture' and the acrylic SAP remained at plant-growth-friendly moisture levels. By Day 20, the soil moisture levels of the 'Orange peel mixture' and the acrylic SAP samples were still at levels of 3.8 and 2.7, respectively.

Growth of the Ocimum Sanctum The number of flowers of the plants were significantly larger in the 'Orange peel mixture' and acrylic SAP compared to the control group. Results indicated that the Ocimum Sanctum plants were significantly healthier and stronger in the 'Orange peel mixture' compared to the acrylic SAP. The Ocimum Sanctum plant began to die after Day 10 in the control, while the plants in the acrylic SAP and 'Orange peel mixture' continued to grow consistently until Day 16 and began to die after Day 20.

From left to right: Control; Acrylic SAP; Orange peel mixture Effect of the Orange peel mixture on the Growth of the Ocimum Sanctum Day 5 Day 0 r Day 20 Day 15 Day 10

Thank You Made By- Harsh Khamankar Class- 10 th Email Id – khamankarharsh@gmail.com My project was inspired by  Kiara Nirghin. I have studied her project and wanted everyone to know about this project. I have taken original and accurate results obtained by her.