Combination of greenhouse and open-field crop fertigation can increase sustainability of horticultural crops in the Mediterranean region

Muñoz, Pere; Flores, Jorge; Antón, Assumpció; Montero, J.I.

doi:10.17660/actahortic.2017.1170.78

Cited by 16 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…It was found that N disposal was about 40% less than in monoculture system. The results are in agreement with a previous report [25] that mentioned that the nitrogen balance in a cascade system showed an important decrease in nutrient leachate. According to [25], the adoption of the cascade crop system reduced the environmental impact by 21%.…”

Section: Nutrient Use Efficiencysupporting

confidence: 93%

“…The results are in agreement with a previous report [25] that mentioned that the nitrogen balance in a cascade system showed an important decrease in nutrient leachate. According to [25], the adoption of the cascade crop system reduced the environmental impact by 21%. Additionally, García-Caparrós et al [9] concluded that the establishment of sequential irrigation systems resulted in saving of water and removal of nitrates, which is a great advantage in arid and semi-arid regions.…”

Section: Nutrient Use Efficiencysupporting

confidence: 93%

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Implementation of the Circular Economy Concept in Greenhouse Hydroponics for Ultimate Use of Water and Nutrients

et al. 2020

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The circular economy in agriculture aims to reduce waste while also making best use of residues by using economically viable processes and procedures to increase their value. In this study a two-level cascade cultivation system was set up under greenhouse conditions. The research was focused on the identification of crop species as secondary crops and the development/iterative optimization of cultivation practices. For this purpose, different crop-combinations with a primary and different secondary crops were investigated using different system-layouts. Measurements were carried out during two cultivation periods. During the 1st Period a combination of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) as primary crop, with rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), basil (Ocimum basilicum), and peppermint (Mentha piperita) as secondary crops, was evaluated. In the 2nd Period the drainage of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants was re-used to irrigate spearmint (Mentha spicata), dill (Anethum graveolens), celery (Apium graveolens) and parsley (Petroselinum crispum) plants. In both periods, different fertigation management strategies based on the drainage solution of the primary crop were employed. The use of the cascade hydroponic system improved both crop water and nutrient use efficiency. Notably, the NO3 disposal was about 40% less as compared to a monoculture. Average fresh water consumption of secondary crop plants irrigated with diluted drainage solution was reduced by 30% in comparison to plants irrigated with fresh water.

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Section: Nutrient Use Efficiencysupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Nutrient Use Efficiencysupporting

confidence: 93%

Implementation of the Circular Economy Concept in Greenhouse Hydroponics for Ultimate Use of Water and Nutrients

et al. 2020

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“…The lower productivity of W compared with S1 and S2 implies higher water consumption per unit produce. The WUE values reported for beef tomato crops in standard greenhouses are lower, 33.3 and 63.5 L/kg of tomato for the spring and winter crops, respectively (Muñoz et al 2015). This higher efficiency is due to the lack of optimisation in the management of crops grown in the i-RTG.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The environmental impacts of fertilisers are generated during their production due to the high quantities of chemicals, such as sulphuric acid and nitric acid, and the large amounts of energy (heat and electricity) required in the process. Prior studies assessing the life cycle of conventional greenhouses have concluded that the use of fertilisers was critical from an environmental perspective (Muñoz et al 2008(Muñoz et al , 2015.…”

Section: Environmental Performance Of the I-rtgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental assessment of an integrated rooftop greenhouse for food production in cities

Sanjuan-Delmás

Llorach-Massana

Nadal

et al. 2018

Journal of Cleaner Production

131

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Vertical farming is emerging as an effective measure to grow food in buildings and can increase food production in urban areas in a more sustainable manner. This study presents a comprehensive environmental assessment of food production in an integrated rooftop greenhouse (i-RTG)-an innovative vertical farm consisting of a rooftop greenhouse connected to a building-and considers rainwater, residual heat (energy), residual air (CO 2) and food from an industrial ecology perspective. This synergistic connection preserves resources and improves conditions in the greenhouse and the building. The goal of the study is to show the feasibility of the system and to calculate the environmental impacts from its whole life cycle, from infrastructure to end of life, by comparing these impacts with those of conventional production. The results show that the system is feasible and produced 30.2 kg/m 2 of tomato over 15.5 months. The synergy with the building allows the cultivation of winter-fall crops without supplying heating and maintained an average temperature 8 °C higher than that outdoors. Moreover, rainwater was used to irrigate the crops, reducing consumption from the water supply network by 80-90%. The environmental assessment showed that the operation of the i-RTG has more impacts than the infrastructure due to the use of fertilisers, which account for 25% of the impacts in four of the six impact categories studied. Regarding the infrastructure, the greenhouse structure and rainwater harvesting system of the building have substantial environmental impacts (over 30% in four of the six impact categories). Comparison with a conventional greenhouse demonstrates that the i-RTG has a better environmental performance, showing between 50 and 75% lower impacts in five of the six impact categories (for instance, 0.58 kg of CO 2 equivalent per kg of tomato vs. 1.7 kg), mainly due to the reduced packaging and transport requirements. From this study, it was concluded that optimisation of the amount of infrastructure material and management of the operation could lead to even better environmental performance in future i-RTG projects.

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“…An alternative way to reduce fertilizer use and, hence, decrease the pollutant potential of leachates in soilless crops, is to collect and reuse lixiviates for a second soil crop in greenhouse or open air; in this way, a reduction in emissions to water of up to 50% can be achieved, and any impact on global warming is lessened (Muñoz et al, 2012). Besides, in a recent study, the reuse of lixiviates for a second crop in the open air allowed a sequence of outdoor crops to be fertigated without having to add more water and fertilizers than those already contained in the leachates (Muñoz et al, 2017). Related to the emissions associated with soilless crops, recent studies show that for lettuce crops, the estimated emissions are twice the level of real emissions, which would lead to an overestimation of the impact of more than 6% (Llorach et al, 2017).…”

Section: Environmental Issues In Protected Cultivation Environmental mentioning

confidence: 99%

Current trends in protected cultivation in Mediterranean climates

Hernández

Orsini

Baeza³

et al. 2018

Europ.J.Hortic.Sci.

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Protected cultivation has rapidly expanded in many regions all over the world, particularly in those with mild winter climatic conditions. In this context, the greenhouse industry is continually developing new strategies and technologies to solve specific cultivation limitations, to reduce any related environmental impact and to adjust to new market requirements. It is for this reason that it is necessary to update the scientific knowledge of this industry. The characteristics of greenhouse production related to new developments in structures and climate control, crops, cultivation techniques, water and nutrient management and environmental issues, including life cycle assessment and integrated pest management, are the objective of this study. Overall, the main results of this review demonstrate that a great effort of innovation and research has been carried out by industry and researchers in order to cut production costs and to reduce the environmental impact of the most advanced greenhouse technologies while satisfying the requirements of consumers.

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Combination of greenhouse and open-field crop fertigation can increase sustainability of horticultural crops in the Mediterranean region

Cited by 16 publications

References 17 publications

Implementation of the Circular Economy Concept in Greenhouse Hydroponics for Ultimate Use of Water and Nutrients

Implementation of the Circular Economy Concept in Greenhouse Hydroponics for Ultimate Use of Water and Nutrients

Environmental assessment of an integrated rooftop greenhouse for food production in cities

Current trends in protected cultivation in Mediterranean climates

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