Agro Textiles are the fabrics and textiles that are used in the Agrotech sector including horticulture, animal husbandry, aquaculture, and others along with agriculture. Agro textiles are classified into woven, non-woven, and knitted fabrics that are applied for various purposes such as livestock protection, shading, weed and insect control, the extension of the growing season to name a few.

With increased stress on the demand for crops, there is a need to increase the yield and quality of agro-products. Traditionally, the usage of pesticides and herbicides was adopted to protect crops, but even they could not guarantee 100% success and were also not an environmentally friendly solution that left chemical residues. Lately, agriculturists and horticulturists have realized the need for opting for eco-friendly technologies to get higher overall yield, quality, and tasty agro-products.

Agro Textile Products

Agro textile products can be broadly classified based on the technique of their production into:

1. Woven Products
2. Knitted Products
3. Non-Woven Products

Woven Products

A special weaving machine called a Sulzer projectile weaving machine is used to weave the textiles into a range of light, heavy and wide-width fabrics. Nets with a mesh width of 1.8mm to 40mm are woven using these machines. Other machines such as air jets and rapier weaving machines are also used based on the required weaving width of the products.

Knitted Products

Two types of knitting mainly Warp knitting and the Weft Knitting techniques are commonly used to knit the fabrics into protective agro-nets. Nets from yarns are knitted using Raschel machines.

Non-Woven Products

Non-woven fabrics can be produced from numerous techniques including needle-pinched, Stitch-bonded, thermally bonded, hydroentangled nonwovens, spun-bonded, and/or wet nonwovens.

Applications of Agro Textiles

Agrotextiles are used to protect from factors like insects, birds, excessive sunlight, wind, and cold temperatures. Therefore a wide variety of applications are available depending on the type of protection needed, geographical locations, temperatures, type of fabric, and techniques. Agrotextiles are also used widely for the enhanced yield of agro products. Few of the applications include

1. Sunscreens
2. Bird protection net
3. Plant net
4. Ground cover
5. Windshield
6. Football nets
7. Insect meshes
8. Turf protection net
9. Monofil nets
10. Tape nets
11. Cherry covers
12. Nets for covering pallets
13. Packing materials for agricultural products

Advantages of Agro Textiles

Apart from the application benefits of individual agro textile products, many generic advantages make agro textiles very important for the agro sector. Some of them include

1. Increase in crop production
2. Avoid the soil from drying out
3. Decrease the requirement of fertilizers, pesticides
4. Lesser irrigation because of water retention
5. Better product quality
6. Helps in early maturing of crops and non-seasonal plants
7. Other types of support to train or tie up plants to avoid breaking of branches
8. Keeps the crop and surroundings clean for easy harvesting by giving enough space and visibility

Agro Textiles in India

Technical textiles manufactured worldwide are made mostly from man-made/organic fibers. Only about 20% are made from natural fibers such as cotton, silk, and wool. India as an emerging economic power has tremendous potential in the production, consumption, and export of this market share of technical textiles. Out of the projected Indian technical textiles market, agro-textiles will form more than 1.5% with indigenously manufactured agro-tech fiber materials such as nylon, polyester, polyethylene, polyolefin, and Warp knitting as the major technology route for Agrotech in India.

IDEAL Group of Companies is a multi-product manufacturing group specializing in agri-tech products. Ideal agro-textiles are the best-suited products in their respective categories and are the most trusted among the farmer communities. We provide a range of agro-products to help with weed control, moisture retention, prevention of soil erosion, insect repellent, enable early crop harvesting, and increase crop yield.

Check us out at idealagrotextiles.com or contact us at 040-27753333 / 27951759 for further info on agro-textiles and our products.