IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v14y2024i2p188-d1326975.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nutrient Cycling with Duckweed for the Fertilization of Root, Fruit, Leaf, and Grain Crops: Impacts on Plant–Soil–Leachate Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos R. Fernandez Pulido

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 212 Sackett Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA
    This work is based in part on the M.S. thesis of first author Carlos Rolando Fernandez Pulido in the Environmental Engineering program at The Pennsylvania State University.
    Current address: Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.)

  • Pandara Valappil Femeena

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 212 Sackett Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA)

  • Rachel A. Brennan

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 212 Sackett Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA)

Abstract

The increasing energy required to synthesize inorganic fertilizers warrants more sustainable soil amendments that produce comparable crop yields with less environmental damage. Duckweed, a prolific aquatic plant, can not only sequester carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, but also hyperaccumulate nutrients from its environment and upcycle them into valuable bioproducts. In this study, dried duckweed, grown on treated wastewater treatment plant effluent, was utilized as a fertilizer for a variety of crops (beet, tomato, kale, and sorghum). Comparative experiments examined the effect of duckweed, inorganic fertilizer, and a 40–60 mix of both on crop yield and nutrient fate in the plants, soil, and leachate. Comparable yields of beet, tomato, and sorghum were generated with duckweed and inorganic fertilizer. Duckweed significantly enhanced phosphorus (P) uptake in sorghum, exhibiting a P use efficiency level of 18.48%, while the mix treatment resulted in the highest P use efficiencies in beet and tomato. Duckweed-amended beet and kale systems also increased residual soil N (0.9% and 11.1%, respectively) and carbon (4.5% and 16.6%, respectively). Linear regression models developed using the data collected from all crops confirmed that duckweed can be used as a substitute for inorganic fertilizer without negative effects to food yield or nutritional quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos R. Fernandez Pulido & Pandara Valappil Femeena & Rachel A. Brennan, 2024. "Nutrient Cycling with Duckweed for the Fertilization of Root, Fruit, Leaf, and Grain Crops: Impacts on Plant–Soil–Leachate Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:2:p:188-:d:1326975
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/2/188/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/2/188/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Florin-Constantin Mihai & Ionut Minea, 2021. "Sustainable Alternative Routes versus Linear Economy and Resources Degradation in Eastern Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-23, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Fernández-Gutiérrez & Alejandra Argüelles & Gemma Castejón Martínez & José M. Soriano Disla & Andrés J. Lara-Guillén, 2022. "Unlocking New Value from Urban Biowaste: LCA of the VALUEWASTE Biobased Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Tiberiu Iancu & Ionuț Laurențiu Petre & Valentina Constanta Tudor & Marius Mihai Micu & Ana Ursu & Florina-Ruxandra Teodorescu & Eduard Alexandru Dumitru, 2022. "A Difficult Pattern to Change in Romania, the Perspective of Socio-Economic Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-29, February.
    3. Klara Ramm & Marzena Smol, 2023. "Water Reuse—Analysis of the Possibility of Using Reclaimed Water Depending on the Quality Class in the European Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Codruța Cornelia Dura & Ana Maria Mihaela Iordache & Alexandru Ionescu & Claudia Isac & Teodora Odett Breaz, 2022. "Analyzing Performance in Wholesale Trade Romanian SMEs: Framing Circular Economy Business Scenarios," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-34, May.
    5. Oana Dobre-Baron & Alina Nițescu & Dorina Niță & Cătălin Mitran, 2022. "Romania’s Perspectives on the Transition to the Circular Economy in an EU Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-26, April.
    6. Jakubelskas Ugnius & Skvarciany Viktorija, 2022. "An Evaluation of Circular Economy Development in the Baltic States," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 22(2), pages 193-208, December.
    7. Jorge Alejandro Silva, 2022. "Implementation and Integration of Sustainability in the Water Industry: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-28, November.
    8. Vlad STOICESCU & Catalin VRABIE & Teodora BITOIU, 2023. "Energy ecosystems layered over hydrogen valleys for sustainable smart communities. Strategic framework for the Green Deal Industrial Plan implementation in Romania," Smart Cities International Conference (SCIC) Proceedings, Smart-EDU Hub, Faculty of Public Administration, National University of Political Studies & Public Administration, vol. 11, pages 443-498, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:2:p:188-:d:1326975. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.