Journal of Agricultural Science and Food Research
Open Access

Abstract

Sustained Release of Benomyl Fungicide from Psyllium and Acrylic Acid- Based Hydrogels for its Use in Agricultural Sector

Kiran K and Balbir SK

In this current investigation functionalization of psyllium has been done with acrylic acid in the presence of potassium per-sulphate (KPS)-hexamethylene tetramine (HMTA) as an initiator-crosslinker system. After the initial optimization of different parameters for the synthesis of the hydrogel, the candidate polymer, i.e., (Psy-cl-poly(AA)- IA, has been studied for its sustained release behavior of ‘benomyl’ fungicide for its further use in agricultural sector. The diffusion exponent ‘n’ for Psy-cl-poly(AA)-IA has been found to be 1.16. The ‘n’ value indicated Case-II type diffusion.