University of Coimbra develops bag that protects against nematodes

A group of researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) has developed a film that protects plant roots from root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.).

The envelope in the form of a bag is made from recycled paper and biodegradable polymers containing bionematicides for pest control.

The project is called ″ProBag – Plant Protection Bag: a new, practical and sustainable system for plant-parasitic nematodes Management in Conventional and family farming″.

According to the University of Coimbra, this control strategy is ″innovative, sustainable, practical and low-cost″ and is being optimized, ″but the results obtained are promising″.

″We tried to find a control strategy that is sustainable since the existing and relatively effective ones are based on the use of chemical pesticides, which for the most part have harmed the environment and human health″, explained Carla Maleita, a researcher from the Center for Research in Engineering of Chemical Processes and Forest Products (CIEPQPF) of FCTUC.

Carla Maleita and Mara Braga

The researchers resorted to paper recycling and combined it with the use of biodegradable polymers and a biological pesticide derived from waste from the processing of walnut fruit, resulting in a product with no negative impact on the environment.

It is expected that the release of the compound will happen both inside and outside the bag, protecting the plant in both directions.

″From the moment the bionematicide is released, it starts to act on the organisms, causing their death, and, in this way, the roots are protected,″ Maleita said.

She added, ″At the end of the culture, this product will have been degraded by non-target organisms in the soil and physical factors, namely temperature and humidity.″

According to scientists, this bag will prevent parasites from settling in the plant's root system and completing its life cycle.

Maleita revealed that one of the following steps would be to assess the impact of the ProBag on non-target organisms in the soil, to understand how they contribute to bag degradation.

This project has the participation of scientists from the Department of Chemical Engineering, CIEPQPF, and the Department of Life Sciences, Center For Functional Ecology (CFE).

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)