Effects Of Alternative Fertilisers From Food And Household Waste And Clover Based On Yield Of Organic Cabbage (Brassica Oleracea Convar. Capitata Var. Alba L.)

Organic vegetable farms are highly specialized and therefore, the production is very dependent on external nutrient inputs by commercial fertilisers permitted in organic farming, often of conventional origin. Food and household waste and/or clover based fertilisers could replace and/or be additional alternatives to commonly used fertilisers and close rural-urban cycles. The effect of different alternative plant and waste based fertilizers were studied in a field trial using cabbage (Brassica oleracea convar. capitata var. alba L.) in Stuttgart, Southwest Germany. Total yield (head and residues), marketable head yield (> 1 kg) and non-marketable head yield (< 1 kg) were measured. All fertilisers increased the total biomass yield and marketable head yield of cabbage significantly, with horn grit (widely used commercial fertiliser in organic vegetable production) fertilisation showing the highest yields (Total yield: 88.6 Mg fresh matter (FM) ha-1, Marketable head yield: 39.8 Mg FM ha-1) of all treatments. Clover pellets, tofu whey, biogas digestate from organic household waste and clover based biogas digestate showed results comparable to farmyard manure and could be potential new fertilisers for organic vegetable production without compromising the yield

Deliverable 5.7.Technical report on alternative fertilisers (arable farming and vegetables)

This Deliverable D5.7 is a ‘Technical report on alternative fertiliser’. It is a shorter version, containing key facts and characteristics about the material investigated and described in the much longer ‘Summary paper of alternative fertilisers’ (Deliverable D5.6), from the Horizon2020 project "Organic-PLUS" (2018-2022). In organic farming, a considerable amount of nutrients and organic matter are derived from conventional farming as fertilisers from organic sources are not available in sufficient quantities, in particular for stockless organic farms or intensive vegetable and fruit production. Furthermore, the EU Regulation on Organic Food and Farming restricts the use of recycling fertilisers from urban sources. Relying on fertilisers from conventional production is a challenge for the integrity of organic production. The ‘contentious fertilisers’ include animal manure and other animal-derived products such as hydrolysed proteins or keratins from non-organic, conventional, animal husbandry, but also plant-derived products such as vinasse from conventional sugar-beet production. Furthermore, there may be issues with veterinary drugs and pesticide residues in such fertilisers, as shown for liquid vinasse-based fertiliser which contained residues of pyralid, a herbicide used frequently in conventional sugar beet farming (e.g. McKinnon et al. 2021). In addition, the rapidly increasing demand for vegan products and the reduced consumption of meat for environmental reasons contributes to the importance of finding alternatives to animal-derived fertilisers in general. We also addressed other soil-related contentious inputs in Work Package 5 in Organic-PLUS: Within Deliverable 5.1 the current use of peat in growing media, plastic for mulch films and fertilisers in organic agriculture was assessed, followed by a report discussing possible alternatives to these contentious inputs (Deliverable 5.2). The topics of peat in growing media and biodegradable plastic for mulching made from renewable materials have been described in separate deliverables (D5.8; D5.9; D5.10; D5.11). For alternative fertilisers, several trials have been conducted with funding from Organic-PLUS in five countries: Norway (NORSØK), UK (CU), Denmark (ICOEL), Poland (CUT) and Germany (UHOH). In work package SOIL, Task 5.4 “Examination of promising alternatives, fertilisers” the trials investigated the use of the alternative fertilisers in the open field, protected cropping and in pot trials in organic vegetable production and in arable farming. For some trials, fertiliser effects were assessed for the main crop and the residual effects were tested in subsequent crops. In Task 5.4, we have collaborated to produce two deliverables, D5.6 and 5.7, where D5.6 is a summary paper describing the output of the fertiliser trials. As outlined this deliverable (D5.7) is a technical report describing some essential characteristics of the fertiliser materials which were tested at different locations in Europe and reported in deliverable (5.6). To structure a scientific discussion about the future fertilisation inorganic agriculture, we have developed three categories to classify the fertilisers applied in Organic-PLUS: URBAN, VEGAN, and RESID: URBAN fertilisers are defined as materials which contribute to close the rural-urban nutrient and organic matter cycles by recycling resources derived from agricultural land, via urban food systems and back to the land. A relevant example which has been intensively studied in Organic-PLUS is digestate from source-separated organic household waste, which is used for biogas production by anaerobic digestion. These fertilisers are available in several European countries at the level of a municipality

Impact of Water Deficit during Fruit Development on Quality and Yield of Young Table Grape Cultivars

Water limitation has a major effect on agricultural crop production, influencing yield as well as external and internal quality parameters of table grapes. Due to their high yield potential, table grapes have a particularly high risk for yield and quality losses when water is limited, but grapevines are known for high heterogeneity within cultivars. Therefore, we investigated the effect of prolonged water deficits (control, moderate, and severe deficit) during fruit development on yield and quality parameters of four different table grape cultivars (Vitis L.). Furthermore, we ranked their suitability for cultivation in areas suffering from water limitation. Up to 31% of irrigation water could be saved in comparison to the control, without significant negative effects on plant yield, berry size, or internal quality parameters, such as total soluble solids and total phenolic content. However, single bunch yield was highest at a moderate deficit and number of seeds in berries increased with the severity of deficit. Cultivar selection had the greatest influence on water consumption and mainly defined yield and quality parameters. The cultivar &#8216;Fanny&#8217; produced the highest yields (195.17 g per plant), most bunches per plant (2.04), and biggest berries while cv. &#8216;Nero&#8217; had the highest total soluble solids content (26.33 &#176;Brix) and the highest total phenolic content (67.53 mg gallic acid equivalents per 100 g fresh weight). Overall, &#8216;Fanny&#8217; was the most promising cultivar for cultivation under water-limited conditions during fruit development, without significant effects on yield and quality parameters

Pathways to phase-out contentious inputs from organic agriculture in Europe - Arbeitspaket Boden: Untersuchung von vielversprechenden alternativen Düngemitteln

Das Projekt hat zum Ziel, Alternativen für umstrittene Betriebsmittel im ökologischen Landbau, darunter auch Düngemittel, zu finden. Im Rahmen des Projektes werden (1) umstrittene Betriebsmittel, die derzeit in der europäischen Landwirtschaft verwendet werden, identifiziert und bewertet, (2) spezifische technische Lösungen erarbeitet, die den Einsatz dieser Betriebsmittel minimieren oder sie schrittweise ersetzen, (3) die Alternativen und Ausstiegsszenarien ökologisch, ökonomisch und sozial bewertet (4) Wissen, Ideen und Ergebnisse mit den Praxispartnern (Verbände, Unternehmen, Landwirte) diskutiert, um die Anwendbarkeit zu prüfen und die Alternativen in der Praxis zu nutzen

Summary paper on alternative fertilisers

Fertilisation in organic agriculture is today highly dependent on the import of external nutrients and organic matter by fertilisers derived from conventional farming and conventional food industries. Within Deliverable (D) 5.1 of the project Organic-PLUS the current use of peat in growing media, plastic for mulching and fertiliser inputs in organic agriculture was already addressed, followed by a report discussing possible alternatives to these contentious inputs (D5.2). The current D5.6 develops the topic further and shows in more detail the results of research on the use of alternative non-contentious fertilisers conducted in Task 5.4, ‘Alternatives to contentious sources of fertility’, of Work package 5 SOIL in Organic-PLUS. The objectives of Task 5.4 were a) to characterise relevant alternatives for contentious inputs for physio-chemical and other characteristics (e.g. availability), and study how well they function compared with existing contentious inputs (manure from conventional farming, commercial fertilisers from conventional sources) and b) to develop system approaches to integrate the alternatives in existing organic cropping systems/ sequences. The characteristics of the individual fertilisers as well as short recommendations for their application in practice are presented in D5.7 (a technical report) along an overview of nutrient concentrations and other essential characteristics of the fertilisers tested