Development of nonwoven mulch mats from textile waste and its performance assessment on for chilli crop

The current study dealt with development of nonwoven mulch mat from textile waste and its evaluation in the field for chilli crop. Six needle-punched nonwoven mulches were developed from textile mill waste comprising of cotton, polyester and acrylic in two different ratios. All ratios were varied with three different areal density ratios i.e. 200, 300 and 400 g/m² with 4-, 3.5- and 3-mm thickness, respectively. The mulch mats were characterised for their physicomechanical properties such as tensile strength, elongation, air permeability, thermal insulation and resistance to sunlight degradation. Further, the developed mulches were analysed for its performance in the field on the hybrid variety of chilli CH-27. Parameters, including soil moisture content, soil temperature, weed suppression, yield and soil degradation were investigated through field tests, against a polyethylene mulch, paddy straw and without mulch. The experimental results revealed that the developed nonwoven mulches worked as buffer media between the atmosphere and soil surface and influenced the temperature of soil. These mulches performed better to maintain the soil temperature than the paddy straw and polyethylene mulch. On the basis of plant grown and crop yield, the best much performance was observed with cotton: polyester: acrylic (70:20:10) with 200 g/m².