JP7606206B2 - Agricultural mulch materials and their manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to agricultural mulch materials and their manufacturing methods, and more specifically to agricultural mulch materials that can be rolled up without any unevenness after production, and their manufacturing methods.

In mulch cultivation, agricultural mulching materials (sometimes called mulch films or mulching materials) are used to maintain soil temperature, retain soil moisture, prevent soil compaction, prevent nutrient loss, and prevent the overgrowth of weeds.

Conventionally, Patent Document 1 discloses a mulch material that is composed of a vegetation area defined along the longitudinal direction in the center of the width direction, and side areas arranged on either side of the vegetation area.
A plurality of vegetation holes are provided in the vegetation area, and during cultivation, the stems and leaves of the cultivated crops grow through the vegetation holes.
This vegetation hole is formed by arranging multiple slits (cuts) extending in the width direction of the mulch material in parallel along the longitudinal direction, and each slit forms a vegetation hole.

JP 2016-49023 A

The vegetation holes in Patent Document 1 allow the stems and leaves of the cultivated crops to grow out through the vegetation holes during cultivation, but because the holes penetrate the film in the cross-sectional direction, air can freely flow in and out between the top of the film and the soil, which can cause soil temperature to escape.
Furthermore, when a film has a through line, the film swells when it is wound up, which increases transportation costs and makes multi-stretching difficult, thereby reducing user convenience, which is a problem that needs to be solved.

The objective of the present invention is to provide an agricultural mulch material and a processing method thereof that can encourage the buds, stems, and leaves of cultivated crops to penetrate the surface of the material and extend outward without causing a drop in soil temperature, eliminate unevenness caused by swelling, and increase the roll length, allowing for long rolls, thereby reducing transportation costs and improving user convenience.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

The above problems are solved by the following inventions:

(Claim 1)
A method for producing agricultural mulch material made of a long agricultural film, comprising:
A vegetated area having a predetermined width is defined along the longitudinal direction of the agricultural film, and side areas are defined on both sides of the vegetated area,
In the vegetated area, a plurality of rows of vegetated portions extending in the width direction are formed along the longitudinal direction,
A method for manufacturing an agricultural mulch material, wherein the vegetation portion has non-through grooves formed by a laser.
(Claim 2)
2. The method for manufacturing an agricultural mulch material according to claim 1, wherein the vegetation section has a plurality of non-through grooves formed along a width direction.
(Claim 3)
3. The method for manufacturing an agricultural mulch material according to claim 1, wherein each of said non-through grooves has one or a plurality of through holes formed therein.

The present invention provides an agricultural mulch material and a method for manufacturing the same that improves the growth of crops, increases commercial value, eliminates unevenness during winding, extends the limit of winding length, reduces transportation costs, and improves user convenience, even when through holes or non-through holes are provided that encourage the buds, stems, and leaves of cultivated crops to penetrate the surface of the material and extend outward.

In other words, while there was a limit to the number of wraps that could be made when processing vegetation using conventional blades, the present invention makes it possible to wrap more than twice as many, and there are fewer steps, which means that the vegetation does not get tangled or cut when unrolled, it can be spread out neatly, and the effort required for replacement is reduced.

In the current market, there is a need for longer rolls of film due to larger machines and expanding cultivated areas, and the mulch material of the present invention can meet such requirements and meets market needs.

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a mulch material according to the present invention. Cross-sectional view taken along line (II)-(II) in FIG. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing examples of non-penetrating grooves of different depths in FIG. 2 . Cross-sectional view taken along line (IV)-(IV) in FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a through-portion of a non-through-portion groove according to the present invention; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of a non-penetrating groove in a vegetation portion according to the present invention. Cultivation example of potatoes grown using the mulch material of the present invention Cultivation example of potatoes grown using the mulch material of the present invention Cultivation example of potatoes grown using the mulch material of the present invention Cultivation example of potatoes grown using the mulch material of the present invention

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a plan view showing an example of the agricultural mulch material of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line (II)-(II) in Figure 1. Figures 3(a) to 3(d) are diagrams showing an example of non-through grooves of different depths in Figure 2, and Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line (IV)-(IV) in Figure 1.

In Figures 1 and 2, 1 is an agricultural mulch material, which is made of a long agricultural film 10. The agricultural mulch material 1 has the form of a long film so that it can cover the ridges on which crops are grown.

The material of the agricultural mulch material is not particularly limited, and may be a biodegradable resin or a polyolefin resin other than a biodegradable resin, but in the present invention, a biodegradable resin is preferred. There is no particular limit to the biodegradable resin, and various biodegradable resins can be used.

Agricultural mulch material 1 is composed of a vegetation area 2 of a certain width defined at the center of the width direction (left and right direction in the figure) along the longitudinal direction (up and down direction in the figure), and side areas 3, 3 arranged on either side of vegetation area 2. When growing crops, side area 3 is an area that mainly covers the shoulders of the ridges on the sides of vegetation area 2. This side area 3 is covered with soil as necessary to prevent mulch material 1 from being blown up by the wind.

The vegetation area 2 is provided with a number of vegetation sections 20. The vegetation sections 20 serve to allow the shoots, stems and leaves of cultivated crops to pass through and grow out during cultivation.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vegetation portion 20 of the agricultural film 10 has a plurality of rows of non-through grooves 21 formed by a laser.
In FIG. 2, it is preferable that the interval A between the non-through grooves 21, that is, between the vegetation sections 20 in the longitudinal direction, is formed at a predetermined interval.

The non-penetrating grooves 21 are grooves that do not penetrate from the front to the back of the agricultural mulch material 1. The film below each of the non-penetrating grooves 21 each has a non-penetrating film portion 22.

If the thickness of the agricultural mulch material 1 is L and the groove depth of the non-penetrating groove 21 is G, the length of the non-penetrating film portion 22 is L-G.

In the present invention, when the film thickness L is 18 μm, the length of the non-penetrating film portion 22 is preferably in the range of 1 to 15 μm, and more preferably in the range of 3 to 9 μm.

Figures 3(a) to 3(d) show examples of different groove depths of the non-penetrating grooves 21. All of Figures 3(a) to 3(d) show an example in which the film thickness L is 18 μm.

In the example of FIG. 3(a), the non-penetrating groove 21 has a width of 0.2 mm, a depth of 3.6 μm, and a length of the non-penetrating film portion of 14.4 μm.
In the example of FIG. 3(b), the non-penetrating groove 21 has a width of 0.2 mm, a depth of 9.0 μm, and a length of the non-penetrating film portion of 9 μm.
In the example of FIG. 3(c), the non-penetrating groove 21 has a width of 0.2 mm, a depth of 10.8 μm, and a length of the non-penetrating film portion of 7.2 μm.
In the example of FIG. 3(d), the non-penetrating groove 21 has a width of 0.2 mm, a depth of 14.4 μm, and a length of the non-penetrating film portion of 3.6 μm.

The groove depth (G) in the example of Figure 3 is an example, and is a value calculated from a predicted value based on a tensile strength test of the film material. Therefore, the groove depth can be calculated from the measured tensile strength.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line (IV)-(IV) in FIG.
4, the agricultural film 10 is composed of a vegetation area 2 of a predetermined width defined at the center in the width direction (left-right direction in the figure), and side areas 3, 3 disposed on both sides of the vegetation area 2, and one non-through groove 21 is formed along the width direction in the vegetation area 2. In the example shown, the non-through groove 21 has a depth G. In this embodiment, an example is shown in which one row of vegetation is provided by one non-through groove 21.

Figures 1 and 2 show an example in which multiple rows of linear non-through grooves 21 are formed in parallel, but if the straight lines in Figure 1 are replaced with curved lines (e.g., wavy lines), curved non-through grooves 21 will result.

In the present invention, the width of the non-through groove 21 is 0.2 mm in the above example, but is not particularly limited, and is preferably in the range of 0.1 to 10 mm, and more preferably in the range of 0.1 to 5 mm.

In the present invention, the non-through groove 21 can be formed by laser processing. The laser beam can be, for example, a _CO2 gas laser with an output of 10 W to 100 W.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, if the CO2 _gas laser has a maximum output of 70 W and laser processing is performed at an output of 30 W during normal operation, laser processing can be performed at an output of 30/70 = 43%.

The CO2 _gas laser can efficiently extract laser output, and has a high quality laser beam, so that the groove can be efficiently processed. In this embodiment, the laser is not limited to the _CO2 gas laser, and any laser that can efficiently extract laser output may be used.

The processing equipment that irradiates _CO2 gas laser emits pulses due to the nature of the laser, so the bottom of the groove does not move in a straight line but in an uneven shape. Furthermore, as the processing equipment deteriorates over time and the output swing increases, the unevenness may become larger, and if the non-penetrating film part becomes thin, dot-like holes may appear. In this case, when viewed through the film, it also looks like dot processing.

However, when viewed under magnification, the _CO2 gas laser digs a groove as it moves, which differs from a normal dot due to the difference in depth.

The results of tests conducted in this invention show that the appropriate cutting depth for the process of forming the non-penetrating grooves 21 that leave non-penetrating film portions is preferably in the range of 50% to 90% of the film thickness, with about 70% to 80% being practically preferable. In the example shown in Figures 3(a) to 3(d), since the film thickness is 18 μm, it can be said that the practically preferable depth is in the range of 12.6 μm to 14.4 μm.

In the present invention, each of the multiple non-through grooves 21 may have through portions in places.

The laser output is sent in pulses, so that irregularities are formed at the bottom of the non-penetrating groove 21, as shown in Figure 5 (a).

Therefore, if the non-perforated film portion is thin, this unevenness will form a perforated portion 25.

The embodiment having through-holes here and there means that, in the example of FIG. 5(a), it is not limited to the example in which through-holes 25 are formed in all of the recesses, but that through-holes 25 may be formed in one, two, or three of the recesses.

The through-holes 25 are dot-shaped holes that are formed in the same direction (sharp direction) as the non-through grooves 21.

The dot-shaped through-holes 25 are characterized in that, as shown in Figure 5(b), when the row of non-through-hole grooves 21 is viewed from above, it appears as a row of dots.

In the illustrated example, the dot-shaped through-holes 25 are shown as circles, but they may be elliptical. Also, the dots of the through-holes 25 do not need to be the same size. Furthermore, in the illustrated example, the dots in the non-through-hole grooves 21 do not need to be located in the center of the groove width.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of a non-through groove in an agricultural mulch material.
In the example of Figure 1, a single straight non-penetrating groove 21 is formed in multiple parallel rows, but this is not limited to this. For example, as shown in Figure 6, the non-penetrating grooves 21 provided in multiple vegetation sections 20 in the vegetation area 2 may be formed in multiple rows at a predetermined interval B rather than in a single straight line to form a row of vegetation sections 20, and these may be formed in multiple parallel rows.

There are no particular limitations on the crops that can be cultivated, so long as their stems, leaves, and buds can break through the materials from the soil. Examples of such crops include root vegetables such as burdock, rutabaga, beet, carrot, parsnip, radish, turnip, black salsify, sweet potato, cassava, yacon, taro, taro, konjac, Polynesian arrowroot, lotus root, ginger, potato, Jerusalem artichoke, arrowhead, onion, shallot, garlic, scallion, lily, dogtooth violet, yam, Chinese yam, and other root vegetables.

The following describes examples of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Example 1
1. Film Prototype Non-penetrating grooves 21 were formed in a biodegradable multi-film manufactured by Mikado Kako Co., Ltd. by laser processing, as shown in FIG.
The film thickness was 18 μm, and the depth of the non-penetrating grooves in the film thickness direction was 14 μm.
The film was divided across the width into three regions, namely, a side region 3 / a vegetation region 2 / a side region 3 , and non-penetrating grooves 21 were formed in the vegetation region 2 .

2. Film Winding Test Even when the number of windings of the film was increased, there was no swelling at all at the cut edge of the non-through groove 21.
Since the non-through grooves 21 have no through holes, there is no wind blowing under the mulch due to the presence of holes, which contributes to maintaining the soil temperature.
The number of windings possible was 600 m for a thickness of 20 μm, and 800 for a thickness of 18 μm.

Example 2
Potatoes were grown using the film obtained in Example 1, and it was confirmed whether the potato stems and sprouts could break through the mulching material during the following periods (1) to (9).

Test 1 was conducted with a spacing of 15 cm between plants, and test 2 was conducted with a spacing of 30 cm between plants.
(1) March 17, 2020 (2) April 6, 2020 (3) April 10, 2020 (4) April 15, 2020 (5) April 21, 2020 (6) April 27, 2020 (7) May 7, 2020 (8) May 25, 2020 (9) June 18, 2020 The experimental results are shown in Figures 7 to 10.

(evaluation)
In Test 1, (2) two breakthroughs were confirmed on the 21st day, April 6, 2020.
In Test 2, (2) on the 21st day, April 6, 2020, germination and lifting of the film were confirmed, and (3) on the 25th day, April 10, 2020, tears were confirmed from the processing line.

1: Agricultural mulch material 2: Vegetation area 20: Vegetation portion 21: Non-penetrating groove 22: Film portion 25: Penetrating portion 3: Side region 10: Agricultural film

Claims (3)

A method for producing agricultural mulch material made of a long agricultural film, comprising:
A vegetated area having a predetermined width is defined along the longitudinal direction of the agricultural film, and side areas are defined on both sides of the vegetated area,
In the vegetated area, a plurality of rows of vegetated portions extending in the width direction are formed along the longitudinal direction,
A method for manufacturing an agricultural mulch material, wherein the vegetation portion has non-through grooves formed by a laser. The method for manufacturing agricultural mulch material according to claim 1, characterized in that the vegetation section has a plurality of non-through grooves formed along the width direction. The method for manufacturing agricultural mulch material according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that one or more through holes are formed in each of the non-through grooves.

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