Ultrahigh water-retention cellulose hydrogels as soil amendments for early seed germination under harsh conditions

Agricultural lands are greatly affected by climate change, harsh soils, and desertification, which negatively impact the future sustainability of crop production. This work proposes a new strategy based on cellulose-inspired hydrogel (Gel-glycerol) as soil modulates to transform harsh soil into arable soil to promote seed germination and growth. Gel-glycerol with a 3D network structure exhibited good rheological properties, high thermal stability, thermal reversibility (−81.3 °C), and ultrahigh water-retention capacity (160%) for enhancing seeds germination. Compared with the control sample, the germination percentage and the average leaves number of wheat plants increased by 21.88% and 100% after 21, days with Gel-glycerol. Associated with the most common water-retaining agents (potassium polyacrylate, KPAM), the germination percentage of lettuce seeds for 16 days increased by 38% and 22% with Gel-glycerol treatment under harsh soils. Moreover, the water uptake value of wheat plants with Gel-glycerol improved by 94.7%. This result confirmed that adding Gel-Glycerol as an amendment can significantly tailor soil salt content. This finding offers excellent applicability in the agriculture ecosystem, displaying the potential value in soil amendments and an alternate solution for solving the continuing challenge of harsh environmental conditions.