QualiAgro has been initiated in 1998 (INRA / Veolia partnership)

The objectives are to characterize the agronomic value of composts from urban origin and their environmental impacts.

Figure : QualiAgro, photo taken by drone (EcoSys)

• Location: 78 Feucherolles Orgeval - France
• Supervisor: Sabine Houot INRA (sabine.houot@inra.fr); Camille Resseguier INRA (camille.resseguier@inra.fr)
• Number of treatments: 10 (4 replicates)
• Plot size: 450 m²
• Surface SHON and nature: 6ha, located on a farm

Treatments

The field experimental design is a complete randomized block experiment with 450 m² plots and four replicates of five organic treatments:

• Three urban composts (municipal solid waste, MSW; greenwaste and sludge, GWS; biowaste, BIOW)
• Farmyard manure as organic control treatment (FYM)
• A control without organic inputs (CN)

Figure : Plan of the experimental device QualiAgro (Bodineau, Mercier)

Site management

The experiment is conducted under local farming conditions with 2 main management periods which were carried out in the device:

1998-2013: conventional agriculture, with composts applied every two years on wheat stubbles based on the same organic carbon input for all organic treatments (4 t C ha-1), the organic treatments were crossed with 2 levels of mineral N fertilisation (high and low), maize / wheat succession.

2014-2018: organic practices (no mineral fertilizer nor pesticies), with 2 parts of the device (1) in the initial part receiving optimal mineral N fertilization, the OR are still applied but with amounts divided by 2 to be closer from actual practices (2 t C ha-1), maize (2014)/barley (2015)/ oat (2016)/ barley (2017) / maize (2018) / nitrate catch crop; (2) in the initial part of the device with a low mineral N fertilization level, the application of OR has been stopped and alfalfa introduced in the crop succession, maize (2014)/ barley (2015)/ alfalfa (2016-2017)/maize (2018).

Figure : Amendment on QualiAgro (EcoSys)

Site instrumentation and monitoring

Site and plots are equipped for continuous monitoring of meteorological data, soil humidity, water tension and temperature. Since 2004, one plot of each treatment is equipped to sample the soil solution during drainage seasons by lysimeters with fibreglass wicks (depth of 0.45 m and 1m).

Since 1998, a Large set of variables mainly including nutrients and pollutants (trace elements, PAH, PCB), are monitored on different compartments of the agro-system: organic residues physico-chemical and biochemical characteristics, soils analytical characteristics per layer, crop yields, plants quality, rainwater chemical composition, leachate, microbial biomass and activities.

Data will be stored in a common database specifically developed for the SOERE PRO network and connected with other SOERE.

Soils, organic amendments and plants samples are kept in collection and available for further measurements.

Figure : QualiAgro instrumentations (tensiometers - on the left ; lysimeters - on the center ; GHG emissions  - on the right) (Mercier)

Pedo-climatic context

The long-term field experiment is located on an eluviated soil developed on decarbonated loess (surface layer in 1998: 14.6% clay, 78.5% silt, 6.9% sand / 1.1 % organic matter / pH 7.1) of in the central part of the Paris Basin and cultivated for 17 years with a conventional wheat-maize rotation. The average annual rainfall and temperature for the last 20 years is 614 mm and 11 ° C, respectively.

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