{"id":3188,"date":"2025-10-30T13:36:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T11:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbag.eu\/?p=3188"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:36:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T11:36:47","slug":"new-preprint-applying-recovered-nutrients-and-pruning-waste-to-enrich-and-regenerate-agricultural-soils-in-urban-agriculture-effects-on-emissions-and-yield-of-spinach-and-sweet-potato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/2025\/10\/30\/new-preprint-applying-recovered-nutrients-and-pruning-waste-to-enrich-and-regenerate-agricultural-soils-in-urban-agriculture-effects-on-emissions-and-yield-of-spinach-and-sweet-potato\/","title":{"rendered":"New preprint: Applying Recovered Nutrients and Pruning Waste to Enrich and Regenerate Agricultural Soils in Urban Agriculture: Effects on Emissions and Yield of Spinach and Sweet Potato"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new paper has been posted as a preprint on the Research Square platform.<\/p>\n

See full article\/ Veure l’article complet<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

English:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peri-urban agricultural soils have degraded from intensive tillage and chemical fertilizer use, leading to reduced soil organic carbon (SOC), loss of microbial diversity, and declining crop yields. Nutrient recovery from urban waste can substitute chemical fertilizers, but nutrient cycling in depleted soils can be ineffective. A promising strategy is the incorporation of unstable, carbon-rich biomass waste, which can regenerate soil while closing carbon and nutrient loops. We tested this by applying 150 t ha-1 of ramial chipped wood (RCW) and evaluated yield, soil health, and emissions of CO2, CH4, N2O, and NH3 for spinach and sweet potato cultivation. The outcomes of RCW were compared with mineral fertilisation, compost, and struvite combined with organic nitrogen. Spinach grown with RCW showed the lowest productivity amongst treatments (1.16 \u2013 0.32 kg m-2), whereas sweet potato reached the highest yield (1.72 \u2013 1.99 kg m-2), reflecting its nitrogen-fixation capacity and better adaptation to RCW\u2013amended soils. High RCW doses showed higher CO2 emissions than other treatments initially and significantly enhanced SOC and soil N stocks (+96.3% and +82%, respectively, for sweet potato). We found that N2O emissions are reduced significantly from 0.36 kg ha-1 emitted with mineral fertilizer treatment to 0.07 kg ha-1 with RCW for spinach cultivation, which we attribute to the ability of the unstable carbon available in RCW to bind more easily to the nitrogen. Overall, applying RCW favours sweet potato production while reducing N2O emissions and improving soil fertility, highlighting agronomic and environmental trade-offs for sustainable urban food systems.<\/p>\n

\n

Catal\u00e0:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Els s\u00f2ls agr\u00edcoles periurbans s\u2019han degradat a causa del conreu intensiu i de l\u2019\u00fas de fertilitzants qu\u00edmics, fet que ha provocat una reducci\u00f3 del carboni org\u00e0nic del s\u00f2l (SOC), una p\u00e8rdua de diversitat microbiana i una disminuci\u00f3 del rendiment dels cultius. La recuperaci\u00f3 de nutrients a partir de residus urbans pot substituir els fertilitzants qu\u00edmics, per\u00f2 el cicle de nutrients en s\u00f2ls degradats pot resultar poc eficient. Una estrat\u00e8gia prometedora \u00e9s la incorporaci\u00f3 de residus de biomassa inestables i rics en carboni, capa\u00e7os de regenerar el s\u00f2l alhora que tanquen els cicles del carboni i dels nutrients. Per comprovar-ho, es van aplicar 150 t ha\u207b\u00b9 de fusta triturada de brancatge (RCW) i es van avaluar el rendiment, la salut del s\u00f2l i les emissions de CO\u2082, CH\u2084, N\u2082O i NH\u2083 en el cultiu d\u2019espinacs i moniatos. Els resultats obtinguts amb RCW es van comparar amb els de la fertilitzaci\u00f3 mineral, el compost i l\u2019estruvita combinada amb nitrogen org\u00e0nic. Els espinacs cultivats amb RCW van mostrar la productivitat m\u00e9s baixa entre els tractaments (1,16 \u2013 0,32 kg m\u207b\u00b2), mentre que el moniato va assolir el rendiment m\u00e9s alt (1,72 \u2013 1,99 kg m\u207b\u00b2), reflectint la seva capacitat de fixaci\u00f3 de nitrogen i una millor adaptaci\u00f3 als s\u00f2ls esmenats amb RCW. Les dosis elevades de RCW van generar inicialment emissions m\u00e9s altes de CO\u2082 que la resta de tractaments, per\u00f2 van augmentar de manera significativa les reserves de SOC i de nitrogen del s\u00f2l (+96,3 % i +82 %, respectivament, en el cas del moniato). Es va observar una reducci\u00f3 significativa de les emissions de N\u2082O, que van passar de 0,36 kg ha\u207b\u00b9 amb el tractament de fertilitzant mineral a 0,07 kg ha\u207b\u00b9 amb RCW en el cultiu d\u2019espinacs, fet que atribu\u00efm a la capacitat del carboni inestable present al RCW d\u2019unir-se m\u00e9s f\u00e0cilment al nitrogen. En conjunt, l\u2019aplicaci\u00f3 de RCW afavoreix la producci\u00f3 de moniato alhora que redueix les emissions de N\u2082O i millora la fertilitat del s\u00f2l, posant de manifest els equilibris agron\u00f2mics i ambientals per a uns sistemes alimentaris urbans sostenibles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Figure: Scheme of the sampling methodology used for the experiments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Applying Recovered Nutrients and Pruning Waste to Enrich and Regenerate Agricultural Soils in Urban Agriculture: Effects on Emissions and Yield of Spinach and Sweet Potato \/
\nNutrient recovery from urban waste can substitute chemical fertilizers, but nutrient cycling in depleted soils can be ineffective. A promising strategy is the incorporation of unstable, carbon-rich biomass waste, which can regenerate soil while closing carbon and nutrient loops. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3153,"featured_media":1562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[451,7,16,452,453,454,15,455],"class_list":["post-3188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-agricultural-ghg-emissions","tag-amb","tag-barcelona","tag-nutrient-recovery","tag-soil-regeneration","tag-static-chamber-method","tag-urban-agriculture","tag-wood-by-products"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/atmosphere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}