Chitin is a natural polysaccharide polymer compound. It exist in the shells of crustaceans such as shrimps and crabs and the epidermis of insects. Because chitin is insoluble in water and is not easy to be absorbed and utilized, chitin derivatives are made by different processes. Which can be widely used in different industries such as medicine, agriculture, food, and cosmetics.
Especially in agriculture, chitin can be developed into pollution-free and residue-free biological pesticides, growth regulators and fertilizers. Above is of great significance to the sustainable development of my country’s agriculture.
From two aspects of plants and soil, we discuss the main action mechanism of chitin and its derivatives.
Chitin regulates the plant itself and activates cells:
1. Different concentrations of chitin have different effects on plant growth.
Higher concentration of chitin can inhibit vigorous growth. Lower concentration can promote growth. This dual regulation plays an important role in vegetable cultivation.
2. Induce disease resistance and stress resistance:
Chitin induces the structural disease resistance of plants, such as thickening the cell wall of plants or enhancing the degree of lignification. It can rapidly activate cells and induce plants to produce various resistant substances in a short period of time. Induce plants to produce a series of defense responses, improve plant disease resistance and the ability to withstand adverse environmental conditions.
3. Activate the cells and induce the overall regulation of endogenous hormones.
Spraying chitin on the leaves of plants has the effect of air permeability and water retention.
spraying on the leaves or applying to the soil have below fuctions:
- Promote the meristemity of root cells
- Make the roots develop
- Enhance the ability of plants to resist drought and lodging
- The stem nodes are shortened and thick
- The leaves Dark green and moist
- Significantly improve photosynthesis
- Promote the orientation of photosynthetic products
The improvement effect of chitin on soil ecological environment:
1. Improve soil structure.
Frequent use of chitin-containing fertilizers:
- Improve the soil aggregate structure,
- Increase soil permeability,
- Create good environmental conditions for the growth of vegetable roots
- Prevent root diseases caused by retting and stuffed roots and yellow leaves in winter.
2. Play the role of culture medium.
Chitin is a nutrient source and health product for soil beneficial microorganisms, a good medium for soil beneficial microorganisms, and has a good recognition effect on soil microbial flora. It has been determined by experiments that after filling the roots with chitin, the content of beneficial bacteria will increase, and the content of harmful bacteria will decrease.
3. Chelate trace elements.
The molecular structure of chitin contains amino groups, which can produce chelation with trace elements such as copper, iron, manganese, zinc, etc., so that the effective state nutrients of trace elements in fertilizers can be increased, and at the same time, the trace elements fixed by the soil can be released to supply crops. Absorption and utilization, thereby improving fertilizer efficiency.
4. Promote the activity of beneficial microorganisms.
- It can accelerate the mineralization and decomposition speed of organic matter (organic fertilizer, straw, etc.) in the soil, decompose into nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, trace elements and form organic substances such as fulvic acid and brown humic acid, and provide sufficient nutrition for plant growth;
- Autogenous nitrogen fixation Bacteria fix nitrogen in the air, increasing nitrogen levels in the soil and reducing nitrogen fertilizer use.
At present, chitin and its derivatives can be used as feed additives, growth regulators, seed treatment agents, slow-release agents, resistance inducers and food additives in agriculture. The application of “chitin” products in the field of agricultural planting will become more and more extensive and in-depth in the future.
