Potential of Technosols Created with Urban By-Products for Rooftop Edible Production

Baptiste J-P. Grard, Nastaran Manouchehri, Christine Aubry, Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste and Claire Chenu
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Baptiste J-P. Grard: UMR ECOSYS, INRAE-AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 78-850 Thiverval-Grignon, France
Nastaran Manouchehri: UMR SayFood, INRAE-AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 75005 Paris, France
Christine Aubry: UMR SAD-APT, INRAE-AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 75231 Paris, France
Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste: Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS-AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France
Claire Chenu: UMR ECOSYS, INRAE-AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 78-850 Thiverval-Grignon, France

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: Urban agriculture is sprouting throughout the world nowadays. New forms of urban agriculture are observed such as rooftop farming. In the case of low-tech rooftop farming projects, based on recycled urban waste, one of the key issues is the type of substrate used, as it determines the functions and ecosystem services delivered by the green roof. Using a five year experimental trial, we quantified the food production potential of Technosols created only with urban wastes (green waste compost, crushed wood, spent mushroom), as well as the soil fertility and the potential contamination of food products. Regarding food production, our cropping system showed promising results across the five years, in relation with the high fertility of the Technosols. This fertility was maintained, as well as the nutrients stocks after five cropping years. Most of the edible crops had trace metals contents below existing norms for toxic trace metals with nevertheless a concern regarding certain some trace metals such as Zn and Cu. There was no trace metal accumulation in the Technosols over time except for Zn. This study confirmed that constructing Technosols only from urban wastes is a suitable and efficient solution to design rooftops for edible production.

Keywords: technosol; urban agriculture; rooftop farming; urban waste; urban farming and green roof (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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