This study deals with approaches for a social-ecological friendly European bioeconomy based on biomass from industrial crops cultivated on marginal agricultural land. The selected crops to be investigated are: Biomass sorghum, camelina, cardoon, castor, crambe, Ethiopian mustard, giant reed, hemp, lupin, miscanthus, pennycress, poplar, reed canary grass, safflower, Siberian elm, switchgrass, tall wheatgrass, wild sugarcane, and willow. The research question focused on the overall crop growth suitability under low-input management. The study assessed: (i) How the growth suitability of industrial crops can be defined under the given natural constraints of European marginal agricultural lands; and (ii) which agricultural practices are required for marginal agricultural land low-input systems (MALLIS). For the growth-suitability analysis, available thresholds and growth requirements of the selected industrial crops were defined. The marginal agricultural land was categorized according to the agro-ecological zone (AEZ) concept in combination with the marginality constraints, so-called ‘marginal agro-ecological zones’ (M-AEZ). It was found that both large marginal agricultural areas and numerous agricultural practices are available for industrial crop cultivation on European marginal agricultural lands. These results help to further describe the suitability of industrial crops for the development of social-ecologically friendly MALLIS in Europe.

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Kinetic EDTA and citrate extractions were used to mimic metal mobilization in a soil contaminated by metallurgical fallout. Modeling of metal removal rates vs. time distinguished two metal pools: readily labile (QM1) and less labile (QM2). In citrate extractions, total extractability (QM1+QM2) of Zn and Cd was proportionally higher than for Pb and Cu. Proportions of Pb and Cu extracted with EDTA were three times higher than when using citrate. We observed similar QM1/QM2 ratios for Zn and Cu regardless of the extractant, suggesting comparable binding energies to soil constituents. However, for Pb and Cd, more heterogeneous binding energies were hypothesized to explain different kinetic extraction behaviors. Proportions of citrate-labile metals were found consistent with their short-term, in-situ mobility assessed in the studied soil, i.e., metal amount released in the soil solution or extracted by cultivated plants. Kinetic EDTA extractions were hypothesized to be more predictive for long-term metal migration with depth.

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. Interactions between metals and soil organic matter in various particle size fractions of soil contaminated with waste water. Geoderma, Elsevier, 2009Elsevier, , vol. 1, pp. 217-223. 10.1016Elsevier, /j.geoderma.2008 Open Archive TOULOUSE Archive Ouverte (OATAO) OATAO is an open access repository that collects the work of Toulouse researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible. Only scarce field studies concern the consequences of natural soil organic matter (SOM) and metal interactions on SOM dynamics in soils. We investigated the interactions of four metals (Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd) with the SOM associated to five different size fractions (between 2000 µm and b2 µm) of a sandy top soil contaminated by waste water. Metal, organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations were measured and chemical extractions (with Na 4 P 2 O 7 and EDTA) were also performed to assess the variations of SOM-metal interactions irrespective of the size fraction. In addition, as in that selected contaminated site, maize (C 4 plant), replaced C 3 crops 15 years ago, natural isotopic 13 C labelling gave new insights into SOM turnover. First, the results suggest that metals influence the SOM dynamics in that sandy soil: a C 3 "old carbon" enrichment was observed in the small or clay size fractions, while the "new" C 4 carbon associated with sandy soil particles presents a rapid turnover. Metal accumulation in the clay fraction is attributed to particulate organic matter (poorly associated) and SOM decay which overtime accumulated metals and eventually these metal-SOM associations prevent the biological decomposition of such carbon pools. Moreover, the δ 13 C signals, C/N ratios and results from chemical extractions clearly showed differences in the origin, nature and reactivity of the SOM as a function of the size fraction with consequences on the metal behaviour. Differences were observed between metals studied: Zn seems to be mainly bound to SOM associated with clay particles, while Pb seems to prefer to interact directly with the mineral surfaces versus the SOM.