Hydrogels can be defined as systems comprising of three-dimensional, physically or chemically bonded polymer networks entrapping water in intermolecular space (Ahmed, 2015) Features They are Colourless, odourless, and non-toxic material. The high water absorption capacity. They perform very well even at high temperature. Improves the physical condition of soil. pH-neutrality after swelling in water Photo stable. Re-wetting capability Types Soluble hydrogel Completely dissolves in water Insoluble Hydrogel Does not dissolves in water but forms a gel when water is added in it. Marketed as superabsorbent gels. In Agriculture Agricultural hydrogels are referred as water retention granules. Also known as Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) These polymers are cross linked in structure and form a three dimensional network. Absorb 500 – 600 times their weight. No adverse effect of soil fertility with hydrogels Soil conditioners, planting and transplanting gels, seed coatings for controlled germination, soil aerators.

1. Significance of Hydrogel in
Agriculture
P. NAVEEN PRASATH
I Ph.D. Agronomy

2. Significance of Hydrogel in Agriculture
Chairman – Dr. P. STALIN
Assistant Professor,
Department of Agronomy.
Members - 1. Dr. A. BALASUBRAMANIAN
Assistant Professor,
Department of Agronomy.
2. Dr. S. SATHIYAMURTHY
Assistant Professor,
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry

3. What is Hydrogel?
 Hydrogels can be defined as systems comprising of three-dimensional, physically or
chemically bonded polymer networks entrapping water in intermolecular space (Ahmed,
2015)
(Or)
 Hydrogel are macromolecular cross-linked hydrophilic polymeric chains with the ability
to absorb water or aqueous fluids (Zhouriaan-Mehr et al., 2010)

4. Hydrogels in Agriculture
 Agricultural hydrogels are referred as water retention granules.
 Also known as Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP)
 These polymers are cross linked in structure and form a three dimensional network.
 Absorb 500 – 600 times their weight.
 No adverse effect of soil fertility with hydrogels
 Soil conditioners, planting and transplanting gels, seed coatings for controlled
germination, soil aerators.

5. Types of Hydrogel
 Soluble hydrogel
Completely dissolves in water
 Insoluble Hydrogel
Does not dissolves in water but forms a gel when water is added in it.
Marketed as superabsorbent gels.

6. Features of Hydrogel
 They are Colourless, odourless, and non-toxic material.
 The high water absorption capacity.
 They perform very well even at high temperature.
 Improves the physical condition of soil.
 pH-neutrality after swelling in water
 Photo stable.
 Re-wetting capability

7. Importance of Hydrogel
 Increase water holding capacity
 Increase water use efficiency
 Enhance soil permeability and infiltration rates
 Reduce irrigation frequency
 Reduce fertilizer leaching
 Reduce compaction tendency of soil
 Reduce soil erosion and water run off
 Reduce water stress in plants.

8. Disadvantages
 The amount of water Hydrogels absorb decreases greatly if there are any ions in the water
 If there is insufficient rainfall, the soil water is depleted.
 Hydrogels are very costly
 Absorption rate is low in saline soil.
 No Government policies.

9. How do Hydrogel Works?
 Hydrophilic groups
 water enters into the Hydrogel system by osmosis
 400 times its weight of water in this process.
 Gradually dispenses up to 95% of its stored water.
 This Hydrogel works for 2–5 years.

10. Characteristics and Potential Applications
of Hydrogel
Aniket et al.,
2016

11. Application of Hydrogel in soil
Dry Application
Wet Application

12. Suggested Dosage Of Hydrogel In
Accordance With Type Of Soil
Neethu et al.,
2018

13. Types of Hydrogel in Agriculture
 Super Absorbent Polymers
 Pusa hydrogel
 Potassium Polyacryate
 Water Retention Polymers

14. Pusa hydrogel
 Pusa-Hydrogel is a semi-synthetic, cross linked, derivatized cellulose-graft-anionic
polyacrylate superabsorbent polymer
 Pusa-hydrogel is applicable to all crops
 The average rate of usage is 2.5- 3.0 kg/ha of pusa-hydrogel
 Useful for the survival of crop in worst conditions

15. Benefits of Pusa Hydrogel
 Water use Efficiency - absorbs about 350 times its actual weight
 Temperature resistant - maximum of 50 degree C
 Soil Requirements - suited with all type of soils
 Economic to farmer - Rs.1000-1400/kg
 Environment friendly - biodegradable

16. Swelling behaviour of pusa hydrogel vs
commercial hydrogel in saline solutions and hard
water
IARI, New
Delhi

17. Potassium Polyacrylate types

18. Hydrogel swelling water for plants

19. Stimuli response swelling hydrogel
Enas ahmad
(2015)

20. Water absorption mechanism of hydrogels
Pragyan Paramita
Rout (2017)

21. Swelling studies in pH buffer solutions
Maya Hotta et
al., 2017

22. Water-holding capacity of soil
Xiao Zhang et
al., 2019

23. Plates 1. Impact of hydrogel in maize
A B
Waleed Abobatta
(2018)
A. Treated with fertilizer
without hydrogel
B. Treated with fertilizer
with hydrogel

24. Plates 2.
Root Zone development of the plant with hydrogel
Rajiv Dabhi et
al., 2013

25. Plates 3.
Hydrogel applied in the wheat field Bhaskar Natraj
(2013)

26. Table 1.Effect of (hydrogel) rates on
Growth and Yield of Rice in sandy soils
Treatment Plant height
(cm)
No. of tillers/
pot
No. of grains/
panicle
Grain yield/pot
(g)
Biological
yield/pot (g)
Control 80.00 10.00 62.00 4.08 21.50
0.2% hydrogel 82.00 12.40 73.80 7.12 36.44
0.5 % hydrogel 89.20 14.20 83.00 8.12 44.20
1% hydrogel 94.40 16.00 90.00 9.89 50.00
LSD @ 0.05% 1.18 0.82 2.16 1.20 2.48
Waly et al.,
2015

27. Table 2.Effect of (hydrogel) rates on
Growth and Yield of Wheat
Treatment Plant height
(cm)
No. of spikes/
pot
1000 grains
weight
Grain yield/pot
(g)
Biological
yield/pot (g)
Control 66.20 16.40 35.20 25.20 139.60
0.2% hydrogel 82.00 27.20 39.80 32.40 156.80
0.5 % hydrogel 78.40 23.00 36.00 28.20 140.00
1% hydrogel 60.20 14.80 32.00 22.00 128.20
LSD @ 0.05% 1.20 0.82 0.44 0.64 1.08
Waly et al.,
2015

28. Table 3. Effect of seed coating with hydrogel on yield attributing characters of
pearl millet production
Treatment Effective
tillers/ plant
Grain
weight/ ear
(g)
Test weight (g) Grain yield
(q/ha)
Stover yield
(q/ha)
Control 1.29 12.51 6.91 17.89 44.06
Water soaking 1.31 12.73 6.98 18.15 45.27
Seed coating with 10 gm hydrogel/kg seed 1.39 14.19 7.83 20.00 47.91
Seed coating with 20 gm hydrogel/kg seed 1.43 14.90 8.21 21.39 50.67
Seed coating with 10 gm hydrogel + TU (0.1%) +
DMSO (0.01%)/kg seed
1.42 14.54 8.00 20.95 49.60
Seed coating with 10 gm hydrogel + TU (0.1%) +
DMSO (0.01%)/kg seed
1.50 15.42 8.42 22.06 51.56
S. Em± 0.04 0.31 0.12 0.63 1.53
C. D. (P=0.05) 0.12 0.89 0.35 1.84 4.45
Harphool singh
(2012)
TU–Thiourea, DMSO–Dimethyl sulphoxide,

29. Table 4. Effect of moisture conservation practices on Plant height (cm) at harvest,
No. of branches/ plant, Total number of root nodules/plant, Seed yield (kg/ha)
and Stover yield (kg/ha) in moth bean
Treatment Plant height
(cm) at
harvest
No. of branches/
plant
Total number of
root nodules/plant
Seed yield
(kg/ha)
Stover yield
(kg/ha)
Control 23.27 3.55 11.30 590 1468
Dust mulch 25.45 4.13 12.50 660 1598
Pusa hydrogel 27.58 4.55 13.32 726 1713
Stover mulch 29.78 4.98 14.62 805 1862
Pusa hydrogel + Stover mulch 29.95 5.81 15.05 852 1961
SEm + 0.70 0.12 0.27 19 39
CD (P=0.05) 2.01 0.34 0.78 54 113
Monu Jorwal et
al., 2021

30. Table 5. Effect of different levels of hydrogel on seed
germination and seedling growth (15 days) of chickpea
Treatment Seed
germination
(%)
Shoot length
(cm)
Shoot fresh
weight (mg)
Shoot dry
weight (mg)
Control 58.3 17.0 394 46
0.1% hydrogel 50.0 13.7 321 57
0.2 % hydrogel 61.6 15.8 423 62
0.3% hydrogel 75.0 21.4 634 77
Akther et al.,
2005

31. Table 6. Effect of organic manures and super absorbent polymers on growth
and yield of soybean
Treatment Plant
height
(cm)
No. of
branches
/ plant
No. of
pods /
plant
Grain
yield
(kg/ha)
Stalk
yield
(kg/ha)
T1 Control 55.0 8.82 29.30 2016 3995
T2 RDF + FYM at 3.0 t ha-1 60.1 9.66 36.13 2305 4115
T3 RDF + Potassium polyacrylate at 5.0 kg ha-1 63.0 10.8 40.67 2340 4151
T4 RDF + Potassium polyacrylate at 7.5 kg ha-1 74.6 14.2 58.40 2707 4370
T5 RDF + Potassium polyacrylate at 10.0 kg ha-1 71.6 13.2 52.00 2693 4283
T6 RDF + Pusa Hydrogel at 7.5kg ha-1 68.5 11.6 45.70 2493 4256
T7 RDF + Humic acid at 3.0 kg ha-1 65.4 11.0 41.47 2422 4179
T8 RDF + Vermicompost at 3.0 t ha-1 70.9 12.3 47.90 2659 4271
Qasimullah ryan
et al., 2020

32. Fig 1. Economics of cultivation as influenced by
application of organic manures and superabsorbent
polymers in soybean
Qasimullah ryan
et al., 2020
T1-Control
T2-RDF + FYM at 3.0 t ha-1
T3-RDF + Potassium polyacrylate at 5.0 kg ha-1
T4-RDF + Potassium polyacrylate at 7.5 kg ha-1
T5-RDF + Potassium polyacrylate at 10.0 kg ha-1
T6-RDF + Pusa Hydrogel at 7.5kg ha-1
T7-RDF + Humic acid at 3.0 kg ha-1
T8-RDF + Vermicompost at 3.0 t ha-1

33. Table 7. Effect of irrigation scheduling, mulching and hydrogel at plant height
(cm) number of leaves per plant, LAI, silking (No. of days) of Maize
Treatment Plant
height
(cm) on 90
DAS
No. of
leaves /
plant on
90 DAS
Leaf area
index on
90 DAS
Silking
(No. of
days)
T1 25 grams hydrogel and no mulch 209.9 10.8 3.6 68.0
T2 25 grams hydrogel and 4kg mulch 217.6 12.6 3.8 67.3
T3 25 grams hydrogel and 6 kg mulch 226.8 13.5 3.9 65.3
T4 50 grams hydrogel and no mulch 213.4 12.6 3.7 67.3
T5 50 grams hydrogel and 4 kg mulch 222.0 13.2 3.9 64.6
T6 50 grams hydrogel and 6 kg mulch 227.6 13.7 4.0 64.6
T7 100 gram hydrogel and no mulch 214.6 12.7 3.7 66.6
T8 100 gram hydrogel and 4 kg mulch 226.2 13.6 4.0 64.3
T9 100 gram hydrogel and 6 kg mulch 230.4 14.2 4.1 63.0
SE(m) 0.443 0.091 0.01 0.460
CD 1.338 0.274 0.058 1.390
Kasal et al.,
2020

34. Table 8. Effect of drought stress on yield parameters amended with hydrogel in
blackgram
Treatment Number of
pods per
plant (no's)
Number of
seeds per
pod (no's)
Seed yield
per plant (g)
T1 Control 10.67 4.67 1.80
T2 0.1 g of hydrogel kg-1 of soil 14.67 5.00 2.56
T3 0.2 g of hydrogel kg-1 of soil 16.33 5.33 3.14
T4 0.3 g of hydrogel kg-1 of soil 17.33 5.67 3.67
T5 0.4 g of hydrogel kg-1 of soil 18.67 5.67 3.81
T6 0.5 g of hydrogel kg-1 of soil 19.00 6.00 4.10
T7 0.6 g of hydrogel kg-1 of soil 19.67 6.33 4.46
Mean 17.29 5.71 3.61
SEd 0.645 0.373 0.211
CD (P=0.05) 1.368 0.790 0.446
Suriyaprakash et
al., 2019

35. Table 9. Effect of hydrogel on Growth Yield and
Economics of rainfed castor
Treatment Plant height
upto
primary
raceme(cm)
Number of
branches/
plant
Number
of spikes/
Plant
Number
of
capsule
per spike
Seed
yield
(kg/ha)
Gross
returns
(Rs/ha)
Net
Returns
(Rs/ha)
B:C
Ratio
Control (No
hydrogel)
83 3.0 4.0 44 1242 44705 19255 1.6
50% RDH 93 3.3 4.3 47 1652 59472 30272 1.9
100% RDH 106 3.4 4.5 49 1776 63936 31486 2.0
75% RDH 89 3.3 4.2 47 1571 56538 20588 1.8
S.Em 3.7 0.35 0.35 1.0 63.85
CD (P=0.05) 11.5 1.09 1.07 3.1 196.7
Kumar Naik et
al., 2020
RDH: Recommended dose of Hydrogel (5 kg/ha)
Cost of Hydrogel Rs. 1400 kg/ha.

36. Table 10. Effect of Moisture Conservation and nutrient Source on the
Performance of Sunflower Yield and Yield Parameters
Treatment Head
Diameter
(cm)
100 Seed
Wt (g)
Oil
Content
(%)
Seed
Yield (kg
/ ha)
T1 Control (100 % NPK) 16.5 3.00 36.4 1281
T2 2% CaCl2 + Gouch treatment 17.8 3.33 36.1 1526
T3 Vermicompost seed line application (1 t/ha) 18.1 3.30 36.3 1532
T4 FYM seed line application (2.5 t/ha) 17.9 3.26 36.7 1452
T5 Gypsum (100 kg/ha) 18.3 3.22 36.6 1461
T6 Hydrogel (2.5 kg/ha) seed line application 18.6 3.28 36.4 1642
T7 Vermicompost (1 t/ha) + Hydrogel (2.5 kg/ha) 19.1 3.36 36.8 1815
T8 Gypsum + Hydrogel (2.5 kg/ha) 18.6 3.31 36.2 1740
SE(m) 0.38 0.07 0.61 72.34
CD at 5% 1.14 0.23 1.86 219.43
Shanwad et al.,
2015

37. Fig 2. Impact of hydrogel application on
No. of leaves per plant and Root length of
wheat
Trisha Roy et
al., 2019

38. Fig 3. Impact of hydrogel application on
total yield and grain yield of wheat
Trisha Roy et
al., 2019

39. Hydrogel Products Available In India
Trade name Manufacturing company
Pusa Hydrogel IARI, New Delhi
Waterlock 93N Acuro Organics Ltd, New Delhi
Agro-forestry water absorbent polymer Technocare Products, Ahmedabad
Super absorbent polymer Gel Frost Packs Kalyani Enterprises, Chennai
Hydrogel Chemtex Speciality Ltd, Mumbai
Rain drops M5 Exotic Lifestyle Concepts, Chennai

40. Success stories
IARI (2016)

41. Cont..
IARI (2016)

42. Cont..

43. The comparative performance of Pusa hydrogel
with untreated in vegetables, flowers, ornamental
plants and field crops.
IARI (2012)

44. Impact of Pusa Hydrogel on root system
IARI (2012)

45. Conclusion
 Hydrogel may prove as a practically convenient and economically feasible option to
achieve the goal of agricultural productivity under conditions of water scarcity.
 Agricultural hydrogels are not only used for water saving in irrigation, but they also have
tremendous potential to improve physico-chemical and biological properties of the soil
 Agricultural hydrogels are eco-friendly
 Useful for the survival of crop in worst conditions.
 Hence application of hydrogel will be a fruitful option for increasing agricultural
production

46. Thank You