Digestate Improves Stinging Nettle ( Urtica dioica ) Growth and Fiber Production at a Chlor-Alkali Site

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 17; p. 2425
• Main Authors: Viotti, Chloé, Bertheau, Coralie, Martz, Françoise, Yung, Loïc, Placet, Vincent, Ferrarini, Andrea, Fornassier, Flavio, Blaudez, Damien, Puschenreiter, Markus, Chalot, Michel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-09-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Biomass; Biomass energy production; C plus plus; Chlorophyll; Circular economy; Clean energy; compost; Contaminated land; Crop production; digestate; Environmental Sciences; enzymatic activities; Enzymatic activity; Enzymes; Fertilizers; fiber; Fibers; Food contamination & poisoning; Food plants; Food selection; Food waste; Grasslands; Industrial crops; Industrial pollution; Landfills; Leaves; marginal lands; Mercury; Metabolites; Microorganisms; N fertilization; Natural & organic foods; Nonfood crops; Organic foods; Organic soils; Plant biomass; Plant growth; Plant layout; Plant species; Plants (botany); Refuse and refuse disposal; Respiration; Soil contamination; Soil fertility; Soil improvement; Soil pollution; Soil properties; Sustainable materials; Toxicity; Urtica dioica; Waste disposal sites; Wastes; France; Germany; marginal lands; digestate; fiber; enzymatic activities; N fertilization; compost; compost digestate enzymatic activities fiber marginal lands N fertilization
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants13172425

Marginal lands have been proposed to produce non-food crop biomass for energy or green materials. For this purpose, the selection, implementation, and growth optimization of plant species on such lands are key elements to investigate to achieve relevant plant yields. Stinging nettle (
) is a herbaceous perennial that grows spontaneously on contaminated lands and was described as suitable to produce fibers for material applications. Two mercury-contaminated soils from industrial wastelands with different properties (grassland soil and sediment landfill) were used in this study to assess the potential growth of stinging nettle in a greenhouse mesocosm experiment. Two organic amendments were studied for their impact on nettle growth. The solid digestate from organic food wastes significantly doubled plant biomass whereas the compost from green wastes had a lower impact. The highest doses of organic amendments significantly increased the number of fibers, which doubled following digestate application, while reducing leaf Hg concentration. Both amendments significantly improved soil respiration and enzymatic activities linked to the microbial biomass in the soil from the sediment landfill by the end of the experiment. In the context of a phytomanagement scenario, solid digestate would be a preferred amendment resource to improve nettle production on industrial wastelands.