article · EUREKA Life Sciences
Superabsorbent polymers retain substantial volumes of moisture and slowly release water to plant roots during dry spells, which helps stabilise soil moisture. In semi-arid regions such as parts of Zimbabwe, rainfall variability and mid-season droughts challenge crop production. Testing hydrogel amendments at rates up to 0.4 grammes per kilogram of soil on cowpeas showed significant improvements in plant growth and yield under both well-watered conditions and moderate drought. At the highest application rate, plant height, leaf count, internode length, pod length, and pod diameter all expanded noticeably. Overall seed yield increased by 41.5 percent, rising from 3.19 to 4.51 tonnes per hectare. Moisture levels did not significantly alter seed yield, indicating that the top hydrogel dosage fully offset the effects of moderate drought stress across the evaluated crops.
Semi-arid farming faces severe threats from irregular rainfall and prolonged dry spells. Demonstrating that superabsorbent hydrogels can preserve soil water and completely offset moderate drought impacts offers smallholder farmers a viable strategy to safeguard cowpea harvests. By sustaining crop growth and raising grain yields in dry environments, soil amendments of this type can strengthen food security and agricultural resilience against climate variability.
The findings show an applied and tested soil amendment technique suited for smallholder farmers cultivating cowpea in drought-prone semi-arid areas. Hydrogel manufacturers, agricultural input distributors, and extension services could deliver this product as a climate-smart input applied at 0.4 grammes per kilogram of soil. Because the evidence stems from controlled trials, further on-farm validation and economic viability assessments under varied farm conditions would clarify its readiness for widespread commercial adoption.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Super Absorbent Polymers (SAP) are three-dimensional network of polymers which absorb and hold large amounts of water, slowly releasing them to the roots as the soil dries thus stabilizing the water content of soil during dry spells. In Zimbabwe’s semi-arid regions, increase in rainfall variability and mid-season dry spells have made it difficult to grow crops. The research investigated the impact of hydrogel addition at 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 g/kg soil in 75–85% well-watered and 45–55% moderate drought of soil field capacity on morphological and yield parameters of cowpea using randomized complete block design with three replications. Application of hydrogel significantly (P < 0.05) increased the growth and yield traits. Addition of 0.4 g/kg of hydrogel increased the plant height from 60.23 cm to 69.25 cm, leaf number from 19.8 to 32.7 and internode from 8.86 to 14.06. Pod traits showed considerable improvement with increase in pod length from 9.23 cm to 13.03 cm and pod diameter from 6.12 to 8.10 mm at 0.4 g/kg. Overall seed yield was higher by 41.5% (3.19 to 4.51 t/ha), while moisture treatment had no effect on seed yield (p = 0.314), implying full compensation of drought stress through hydrogel application at the highest concentration. Lack of significant interactions of hydrogel and moisture in most characters implies that the effects were additive in nature, meaning that the effects of hydrogel application occurred irrespective of drought stress. These findings support the practical application of superabsorbent hydrogel at 0.4 g/kg soil as an effective climate-smart input for enhancing cowpea productivity and drought resilience in semi-arid smallholder farming systems
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.21303/2504-5695.2026.004355
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
