| 초록 |
With growing plastic pollution, biodegradable plastics have emerged as a popular alternative. Despite its name “biodegradable”, some biodegradable plastics are easily biodegradable only under certain composting conditions and are not biodegradable particularly in nautral environments. Recent work has demonstrated that mealworms ingest several plastics including polylactic acid, which occupies the largest proportion of biodegradable plastics. Unlike non-biodegradable plastics, however, researches on the biodegradation of biodegradable plastics with mealworms have been rarely conducted. To evaluate the biodegradability of bioplastics, mealworms were fed with biodegradable plastics. Frass samples were analyzed through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, and differential scanning calorimetry. Furthermore, the larval gut microbiome was investigated to investigate the effect of biodegradable plastics diets on the microbial communities. |
