ENHANCING SUSTAINABLE AND SMART AGRICULTURE: NANOBUBBLE-ENRICHED HYDROGELS FOR IMPROVED WATER AND NUTRIENT DELIVERY TO FOSTER PLANT GROWTH

Agriculture is facing big challenges due to climate change, like more droughts and less water. Also, using a lot of chemical fertilizers harms the soil and water. This hurts our ability to grow food and harms the environment. To solve these problems, we're working on a project using tiny bubbles called nanobubbles and a special gel or jelly-like polymercalled hydrogel. We've already shown in past research that nanobubbles can help increase the plant absorption ofwater and nutrients. Now, we want to see how combining nanobubbles with hydrogel can make farming even better (e.g., increase water retention in the applied soil, increase water and nutrient delivery efficiency by over 50% and prevent soil erosion and nutrient runoff). We will study how these bubbles and hydrogel interact and how they release water and nutrients to the soil and the result of plant growth improvement.Our goal is to find innovative ways to water and fertilize crops more efficiently. This will help farmers grow more food with less water and fewer chemicals. We will use different scientific methods to learn all we can and then share our findings with farmers and others in the agriculture industry. Ultimately, our research will lead to new and better ways of farming and sustainable irrigation solutionsthat are good for the environment and for growing healthy food.