Prospects and Application of Hydrogel Technology in Horticulture: A Review

The global population is rising at a tremendous rate leading to urbanization which results in deforestation and land degradation ultimately hampering the food production.In order to cope up with the rising problem to feed the ever-growing population with limited resources pose a great challenge to the researchers in this sector.Depleting groundwater resources, scanty rainfall and climate change pattern globally hampers the horticultural crop production.Under such conditions, hydrogel may prove as an alternative and wiser choice to overcome water scarcity problems and enhance overall crop production.In prospect of varied soil type and prevailing agroclimatic condition, use of hydrogel has proved to be effective even at low application rate (2-5 kg/ha).Beside water saving properties, hydrogel has diverse role in improving the physico-chemical and biological properties of soil improving porosity, bulk density and water holding capacity of soils.Hydrogel is the best choice for increasing horticultural crop production with sustainability in scarce water condition since they degrade naturally over a period of time without leaving any toxic residue in soil and crop products.