ArticleGels (Basel, Switzerland)2026
Cellulose-Based and Commercial Polyacrylate Hydrogels as Soil Amendments and Soilless Substrates for Microgreens Cultivation.
Article in Gels (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Water scarcity restricts agricultural productivity and crop yield in many regions. Hydrogels have emerged as promising materials for soil amendment and soilless cultivation. Herein, cellulose hydrogels prepared from waste paper via a DMAc/LiCl solvent system (HG-WP) and from cotton microcrystalline cellulose via NaOH/aq. dissolution (HG-MCC) were investigated. HG-WP formed semi-solid, mechanically stable materials with high porosity, capable of retaining their shape during handling and plant cultivation, whereas HG-MCC appeared denser and less elastic. Their properties and agricultural performance were compared with those of a commercial polyacrylate hydrogel (HG-PA). The three hydrogels differed substantially in water capacity: HG-PA demonstrated the highest (50.13 g/g), whereas HG-WP and HG-MCC showed 30.57 and 3.66 g/g, respectively. Soil amended with 20 wt.% cellulose hydrogel exhibited improved water retention compared with untreated soil during the first 7 days of drying. Under laboratory conditions, hydrogels increased mustard biomass in soil under regular watering and plant survival under drought conditions. In soilless systems, cellulose hydrogels accelerated germination and improved plant development compared with control substrates. In soilless pea cultivation, HG-WP increased total biomass and survival from 56.7% to 79.3%. During basil cultivation in soil, cellulose hydrogel increased plant survival by 13.3% and mean biomass by 10.5% compared with the control. The results demonstrate the potential of cellulose hydrogels as biodegradable soil amendments and soilless substrates for short-cycle crop cultivation, outperforming the commercial polyacrylate hydrogel as an independent soilless substrate.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.