Successes of the “Soilless Agriculture Local Plant Growth Capsule” project

Participating in the biotech entrepreneurship competition held as part of the 2nd International Biotechnology Solutions for Sustainability Congress on October 21-24, 2025 Abdullah Hilmi COŞAR, Research Assistant at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, participated with the topic “Sustainable Plant Growth Capsules for Use in Soil-Free Agriculture” and was selected as the 3rd best bioentrepreneur, winning mentorship support from BIKUME. Within the scope of the same project, Abdullah Hilmi COŞAR received the second best poster award for his presentation at the 6th International Polymeric Composites Symposium and Workshop held on October 2-4, 2025.

The partners of this ADEP project, led by Asst.Prof.Dr.Bahar YILDIZ KUTMAN, are Asst.Prof.Dr.Merve MOCAN, Research Assistant Abdullah Hilmi COŞAR, GTÜ Biotechnology Institute faculty members Prof. Dr. Elif Damla ARISAN, Asst.Prof.Dr. Ümit Barış KUTMAN, and Research Assistant Hande MUTLU DURAK. Two international patent applications were filed for the products manufactured in the first year of the project.

In this project, instead of commercial plant growth capsules, which have unknown contents, are not biodegradable, and are imported because there is no local alternative, two different types of biocomposite plant growth capsules were successfully produced locally. These capsules show the same plant growth performance, utilize agricultural waste, are completely biodegradable, and are more sustainable due to their lower cost.

All News