The site of Qualiagro is part of the French national network SOERE PRO (System of Observation and Experimentation for Environmental Research on Organic Residue Recycling). The objectives of QualiAgro are to characterize the agronomic value of urban waste composts and their environmental impacts, in a long-term field trials and related laboratory characterization of the residues. The experimental site (48.90°N and 1.97°E) is located in Feucherolles France (175 m.a.s.l.) with a modified oceanic climate. The soil is a typical Luvisol on loess of the Paris Basin. It has been initiated in 1998 (INRA-Veolia partnership). It is structured as a complete randomized block design (4 replicates, 450m²/plots) on a total surface of 6 ha and include 5 organic treatments: 3 urban composts - a co-compost of Green Waste and Sludge (GWS), a Biowaste compost (BIOW) and a municipal solid waste compost (MSW) - , 1 reference organic amendment not composted - a farmyard manure (FYM)- and the control - without organic input. Amendments are applied every 2 years on wheat stubble with an objective of 4 t C ha-1. Additionally, the different treatments received 2 levels of additional mineral nitrogen: low mineral N or optimum mineral N. The field is managed in conventional wheat-maize rotation. Site and plots are equipped for continuous monitoring of meteorological data, soil temperature and humidity. One plot of each treatment is equipped with wick lysimeters at 2 depths (0.45 m and 1 m). At the end of 2014, automatics chambers for N2O and CO2 emission survey will be settled, in order to assess greenhouse gas emissions related to composts and manure use. A Large set of variables mainly including physico-chemical characteristics, are monitored on different compartments of the agro-system (composts, soils, plants, water leaching). For example composts quality, crop yields and grain and crop residues analytical characteristics , main soil analytical characteristics per layer , the chemical composition of soil solution (collected with lysimeters), biological communities (microfauna and macrofauned sampling, microbial biomass ) and activities (enzymatic activities, mineralization of organic matter). Data will be stored in a common database specifically developed for the SOERE PRO network and connected with the other SOERE. Soil and plant samples are kept in collection and available for further measurements.

The site of Colmar is part of the French national network SOERE PRO (System of Observation and Experimentation for Environmental Research on Organic Residue Recycling). The objectives of the site of Colmar are to characterize the agronomic value of organic residues and their environmental impacts, in a long-term field experiment. It has been initiated in 2001 (INRA / SMRA68 / ADEME / Agence de l’Eau Rhin-Meuse partnership). The experimental site is located in Colmar (Alsace, France) with a continental climate. The soil is a calcisoil (surface layer: 24% clay, 69% silt, 7% sand / 2.4 % organic matter / pH 8.3). The trial is composed of 60 plots of 90 m² (10 m x 9 m) on 2.2 hectares with 4 replicate blocks of 6 organic treatments randomly distributed within each block: Urban sewage sludge, Composted sewage sludge, Biowaste compost, Farmyard manure, Composted Farmyard manure, Control without organic amendment. The organic amendments are spread every 2 years on the same nitrogen rate of 170 kg/ha. The different treatments received 2 levels of additional mineral fertilizer: without or optimum mineral fertilization. The crops rotation is corn maize / winter wheat / sugar beet / malting barley. Site and plots are equipped for continuous monitoring of meteorological data, soil humidity, water tension and temperature. One plot of each treatment is equipped with wick lysimeters to a depth of 0.45 m. Since 2009, six large lysimeters (4m² and 1m deep, bare soil) complete the field experiment, with 2 replicates of 3 organic treatments: Urban sewage sludge, Composted sewage sludge and Control without organic amendment. They are also equipped to measure the hydrodynamic balance: soil humidity, water tension, temperature, volume of leachate. A Large set of variables mainly including nutrients and pollutants (trace elements, PAH, PCB), are monitored on different compartments of the agro-system: organic amendments 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.