Analysis of Spectroradiometric and Mechanical Characteristics of a New Generation of Anti-rain Agrotextiles.

Climate change increasingly affects agricultural production, while sud-den and heavy weather events are forcing agricultural producers to plan ever more crop prevention countermeasures. Agriculture needs effective solutions for crop protection and larger yields, in terms of advanced technologies and methods. Inno-vative agrotextiles represent a significant step forward in the field of crop protection from weather events, preserving structures and crop areas from damage. Rain can cause significant harms to crop production. For this reason, polyethylene agrotex-tiles have been developed, to optimize the passage of rain, while protecting crops particularly sensitive to changes in humidity. In this paper, the outcomes of an analysis of the technical characteristics of materials used for the production of these agrotextiles are presented. They are expressed in terms of experimental data of transmittance, reflectance and shading effect in the UV/PAR/NIR spectrum (200 nm to 2500 nm). In addition, mechanical strength test outcomes are presented, reported as transverse and longitudinal tensile properties, measured on agrotextiles samples. All these tests have highlighted that the performance of the agrotextiles designed for rain protection doesn’t suffer for a decrease of mechanical properties, while rather causes significant advantages in terms of their durability, as well as on the growth of the protected crops. This analysis of a new generation of plastic agro-textiles for rain protection may therefore become a valid support for the develop-ment of new agrotextiles to be used in the protection of crops from extreme weather conditions, with positive impacts in technological and environmental terms.