1. Fennel waste-based films suitable for protecting cultivations
- Author
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Loredana Mariniello, Giancarlo Moschetti, Concetta Valeria L. Giosafatto, Maria Aponte, Angela Sorrentino, Paolo Masi, Raffaele Porta, MARINIELLO L, GIOSAFATTO CVL, MOSCHETTI G, APONTE L, MASI P, SORRENTINO A, PORTA R, Mariniello, Loredana, Giosafatto, CONCETTA VALERIA LUCIA, Moschetti, G., Aponte, Maria, Masi, Paolo, Porta, Raffaele, and Sorrentino, Angela
- Subjects
Time Factors ,Polymers and Plastics ,Fennel waste-based film ,Food Handling ,Oligonucleotides ,Industrial Waste ,Bioengineering ,Biocompatible Materials ,Environment ,Bioplastic ,Industrial waste ,Biomaterials ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Botany ,Materials Chemistry ,Food science ,Cellulose ,degradation ,Plant Proteins ,Transglutaminases ,Agriculture ,Fabaceae ,Biodegradation ,Environmentally friendly ,Carbon ,Bacillu ,Phaseolin ,Biodegradation, Environmental ,chemistry ,Foeniculum ,Plant protein ,Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ,Pectins ,Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet ,Valorisation ,Plastics ,Settore AGR/16 - Microbiologia Agraria - Abstract
Biodegradable, flexible, and moisture-resistant films were obtained by recycling fennel waste and adding to fennel homogenates the bean protein phaseolin that was modified or not modified by the enzyme transglutaminase. All films were analyzed for their morphology, mechanical properties, water vapor permeability, and susceptibility to biodegradation under soil-like conditions. Our experiments showed that transglutaminase treatment of the phaseolin-containing fennel waste homogenates allowed us to obtain films comparable in their mechanical properties and water vapor permeability to the commercial films Ecoflex and Mater-Bi. Furthermore, biodegradability tests demonstrated that the presence of the enzyme in the film-casting sample significantly influences the integrity of such a product that lasts longer than films obtained either with fennel waste alone or with a mixture of fennel waste and phaseolin. These findings indicate the fennel-phaseolin film prepared in the presence of transglutaminase to be a promising candidate for a new environmentally friendly mulching bioplastic.
- Published
- 2007