Effects of solid and liquid digestate for hydroponic baby leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivation

Ronga, Domenico; Setti, Leonardo; Salvarani, C.; Leo, Riccardo De; Bedin, Elisa; Pulvirenti, Andrea; Milc, Justyna Anna; Pecchioni, Nicola; Francia, Enrico

doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2018.09.037

Cited by 82 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Therefore, digestate could be interesting as a sustainable fertilizer for crop production. Ronga et al [23][24][25] suggested the use of digestate as innovative fertilizer and growing media for the production of basil, peppermint, baby leaf lettuce and grapevine in soilless cropping systems. Other researches highlighted improving in quality and yield of digestate-fertilized crops.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Digestate and Biochar as Fertilizers to Improve Processing Tomato Production Sustainability

Ronga

Caradonia

Parisi³

et al. 2020

Agronomy

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The principal goal of the organic farming system (OFS) is to develop enterprises that are sustainable and harmonious with the environment. Unfortunately, the OFS yields fewer products per land than the non-organic farming system in many agricultural products. The objective of our study was to assess the effects of digestate and biochar fertilizers on yield and fruit quality of processing tomato produced under the OFS. The experiment was carried out in Po Valley, during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. Liquid digestate (LD), LD + biochar (LD + BC) and pelleted digestate (PD) were evaluated and compared to biochar (BC) application and unfertilized control. The results showed that plants fertilized with LD + BC recorded the maximum marketable yield (72 t ha−1), followed by BC (67 t ha−1), PD (64 t ha−1) and LD (59 t ha−1); while the lowest production (47 t ha−1) was recorded in unfertilized plants. Over the two cropping seasons, LD + BC, BC, PD, and LD, increased fruit number per plant (+15%), fruit weight (+24%), Brix t ha−1 (+41%) and reduced Bostwick index (−16%), if compared to the untreated control. Considering the overall agronomic performances, digestate and biochar can be useful options for increasing yield and quality of processing tomato production in the OFS. Hence, these fertilizers can be assessed in future research both on other crops and farming systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Digestate and Biochar as Fertilizers to Improve Processing Tomato Production Sustainability

Ronga

Caradonia

Parisi³

et al. 2020

Agronomy

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“…Vineyard winter pruning wood is usually destroyed by infield burning or crushing onto the soil, and the same occurs for grape stalks. On the other hand, a better valorization of vineyard pruning and winery out stream as feedstock for biogas plants [21][22][23] and pyrolysis [24] might increase vineyard sustainability providing green energy and promising fertilizers, such as digestate and biochar [25]. Considering that little information is reported on the use of compost and biochar coming from the valorization of vineyard by-products, the present study aimed to close the waste cycle in vineyards via the reuse of by-products.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valorization of Vineyard By-Products to Obtain Composted Digestate and Biochar Suitable for Nursery Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) Production

et al. 2019

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Although compost and biochar received high attention as growing media, little information is available on the potential of vineyard by-products for the production and use of composted solid digestate (CSD) and biochar (BC). In the present study, two experiments are reported on CSD and BC mixed with commercial peat (CP) for grapevine planting material production. Four doses (0, 10%, 20%, 40% vol.) of CSD and BC were assessed in the first and second experiment, respectively. CSD mixed at a dose of 10% recorded the highest values of shoot dry weight (SDW) and a fraction of total dry biomass allocated to shoot (FTS), both cropping bench-graft and bare-rooted vine. On the other hand, CSD mixed at a dose of 40% displayed the highest values of SDW and FTS, cropping two-year-old vine. BC used at a dose of 10% improved SDW, root dry weight, total dry weight, FTS, shoot diameter, and height on bare-rooted vine. The present study shows that CSD and BC, coming from the valorization of vineyard by-products, can be used in the production of innovative growing media suitable for nursery grapevine production. Further studies are needed to assess the combined applications of CSD and BC in the same growing media.

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“…A study investigating the fertilizer value of digestate from sugar beet pulp has shown that mineral fertilizer can be substituted to fertilize sugar beets [37]. The effect of solid and liquid digestate was investigated in a hydroponic system to cultivate baby leaf lettuce and the results showed that the investigated forms of digestate (solid and pelleted forms as well as the liquid fraction with agriperlite) represent an alternative growing media in hydroponic systems [38]. Digestate can also be used for algae production [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-Term Nitrogen Uptake of Barley from Differently Processed Biogas Digestate in Pot Experiments

2019

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The use of biogas digestate as fertilizer is limited by the farm nutrient balance. Mechanical separation and drying of digestate increases its transport worthiness as well as the economic feasibility of nutrient export. This study compares the fertilizer effect of four treatments of digestate originating from two biogas plants: untreated digestate, liquid and solid fraction of separated digestate and dried solid fraction of separated digestate. Pot experiments with barley were performed with two fertilization levels for different digestate variants. Above-ground biomass yield, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content in biomass and plant uptake efficiency were highlighted. The results showed that all variants have higher above-ground biomass yield than the control. Due to the reduced amount of easily available N, short-term N uptake of barley from solid fractions of digestate was low. The treatments with the dried solid fraction at low fertilization level showed up to 59% lower N removal from soil and, at high fertilization level, up to 83% lower N removal compared to the respective fresh solid fraction (100%). Depending on the feedstock of biogas plants and processing of digestate, N availability varied and influenced the short-term N uptake. It is recommended that digestate processing should be combined with ammonia recovery to prevent N losses to the environment.

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Effects of solid and liquid digestate for hydroponic baby leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivation

Cited by 82 publications

References 58 publications

Using Digestate and Biochar as Fertilizers to Improve Processing Tomato Production Sustainability

Using Digestate and Biochar as Fertilizers to Improve Processing Tomato Production Sustainability

Valorization of Vineyard By-Products to Obtain Composted Digestate and Biochar Suitable for Nursery Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) Production

Short-Term Nitrogen Uptake of Barley from Differently Processed Biogas Digestate in Pot Experiments

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