Background

Farming depletes a lot of water as the water irrigation systems cover large soil areas. USF researchers have modeled and studied how to increase the ability of soil to hold water for an extended time and to prevent soil systems from drying by adding cactus mucilage, which keeps the zone where plant roots are found wetter in dry soil. BEST entails enriching soil with cactus mucilage optionally mixed with inorganic or organic molecules.

Technology Overview

Modeling of experimental data showed that adding cactus mucilage to the soil system enhances its water uptake up to twice the value as compared to the control (no mucilage). Furthermore, when a larger amount of mucilage gelling fraction was added in the ratio of