This study investigates the negative impact of climate change on water resources, specifically water for agricultural irrigation. It describes how to optimize swelling, gel properties and long-term water retention capacities of Na-CMC/PAAm hydrogels for managing drought stress of Sugar beet plants through techniques such as changing the composition, synthetic conditions and chemical modification. Gamma radiation-induced free radical copolymerization was used to synthesize superabsorbent hydrogels using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Na-CMC) and acrylamide (AAm). The study also explored how varying Na-CMC/AAm ratio and radiation dose influence their swelling behaviour, gel fraction, and water retention. FTIR showed that CMC and PAAm components are part of the hydrogel structure. The equilibrium swelling reached a maximum value of similar to 500 g/g at a Na-CMC/AAm ratio of 60/40. High content of AAm reduced swelling because it caused increased hydrophobicity while high radiation doses up to 50 kGy increased crosslinking resulting in improved but limited swelling from 65 to 85 (g/g). After the second cycle, KOH modification reached maximum swelling capacity by introducing anionic carboxylate groups up to 415 (g/g). SEM images revealed uniform pores in an unmodified scaffold while larger cavities were formed upon modification facilitating Water absorption. Surprisingly, the improved hydrogels retained more water: about 75% even after 16 days as opposed to a 50% drop within five days in the case of unmodified ones. This hydrogel significantly enhanced shoot length by 18%, root length by 32%, fresh weight shoot by 15%, and dry weight shoot by 15% under severe drought conditions. As a result, yield increased by 22%, proteins went up by 19%, and carbohydrates rose by 13%. Leaf chlorophyll content increased with a corresponding decline in stress enzymes indicating decreased oxidative damage. This eco-friendly Na-CMC/PAAm-based hydrogel seems to have potential use for addressing water scarcity and agricultural challenges.

Developing novel formulations and processes to improve the fungal growth inhibition and biodegradability of NR products has become a major challenge for the scientific community, given the health risks associated with fungi in natural rubber (NR) products and the environmental concerns regarding NR waste. Consequently, this study comprehensively investigated the synergistic effects of chitosan and gamma irradiation on enhancing fungal growth inhibition and biodegradability in natural rubber latex (NRL) films. The research involved incorporating varying chitosan contents (0, 3, 6, or 9 phr) into NRL composites and exposing them to different gamma doses (0, 5, 10, or 15 kGy). The results showed that increasing the chitosan content and the gamma dose improved the ability of the NRL samples to inhibit fungal growth on their surfaces. This was evidenced by the absence of fungal colonies after 7 days of incubation on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates for NRL samples irradiated at 5-15 kGy with 9 phr of chitosan. This determination was based on isolating fungi from the film surfaces, followed by serial dilution and a viable plate count. The biodegradability tests also revealed that the NRL films irradiated at 15 kGy with 9 phr of chitosan had the highest weight loss, reaching as high as 10.42 +/- 0.62 % after soil burial for 8 weeks. However, the results indicated that gamma irradiation on the pristine NRL and chitosan/NRL films did not substantially alter the thermal stabilities, density, morphology, and functional groups of the samples. Lastly, by comparing the tensile properties of all the NRL films to the ASTM D3578-01a standard for examination gloves, the optimum conditions for the NRL films were 5 kGy of gamma irradiation with 9 phr of chitosan. This combination resulted in gloves with sufficient tensile strength and complete fungal growth inhibition.

Biofilm and bionanocomposite films were synthesized from polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), chitosan (CS), citric acid (CA), and zinc oxide-nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs). Effects of gamma-irradiation dose and ZnO-NPs concentrations; 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5 (wt./wt.)% were studied. Biofilms and bionanocomposite films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, X-rays diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray, and mechanical properties to identify structure of biofilm and bionanocomposite films. Swelling (g/g)% and gelation (g/g)% of biofilms were carried out at diverse compositions of PVP to CS of (1/1), (1/2), and (2/1) (v/v). Swelling (g/g)% results of (1/1), (1/2), and (2/1) (v/v) were 116, 110, and 126, respectively. Values of highest and lowest gelation (g/g)% of (1/2) and (2/1) (v/v) are 98.0 +/- 1.8 and 85.0 +/- 2.6, respectively at 30 kGy. Water vapor transmission rate was studied for films and exposed 3450 +/- 4.1 and 185.8 +/- 1.2 (kg/m(2).day) for open bottle and (PVP/CS/PCA)/(ZnO-NPs-1.5), respectively. Values of water solubility (g/g)% were investigated and found 30.21 +/- 1.3 and 15.4 +/- 2.5 for (PVP/CS/PCA)/(ZnO-NPs-0) and (PVP/CS/PCA)/(ZnO-NPs-1.5), accordingly. Bionanocomposite films displayed a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria. (PVP/CS/PCA)/(ZnO-NPs-0.1) showed lowest inhibition zone; 4 +/- 0.2, 9 +/- 0.5, 19 +/- 0.1, and 8 +/- 0.3 (mm) compared with (PVP/CS/PCA)/(ZnO-NPs-1.5) of highest inhibition zone; 16 +/- 0.5, 28 +/- 0.2, 33 +/- 0.6, and 18 +/- 0.3 (mm) for Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. Antimicrobial activity increased with increasing ZnO-NPs concentrations. Biodegradation of biofilms and bionanocomposite films were examined under soil from 0 to120 days. Results of weight loss (g/g)% at 120 days of (PVP/CS/PCA)/(ZnO-NPs-0) and (PVP/CS/PCA)/(ZnO-NPs-1.5) are 72 +/- 4.5 and 47.5 +/- 3.8, respectively. Bionanocomposite films were used in food preservation of fresh cherry tomatoes for 30 days and showed goodness. Therefore, these results suggest that the possibility of using bionanocomposite films in food-packaging applications.