Article (Scientific journals)
The Agro-Economic Feasibility of Growing the Medicinal Plant Euphorbia peplus in a Modified Vertical Hydroponic Shipping Container
Bafort, Françoise; Kohnen, Stephan; Maron, Etienne et al.
2022In Horticulturae, 8 (3), p. 256
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Keywords :
Horticulture; Plant Science; Economic feasability; Vertical farming
Abstract :
[en] Vertical farming is considered as a potential solution to increase yield while decreasing resource use and pesticide impacts compared to conventional agriculture. However, the profitability of cultivating ordinary leafy green crops with low market prices in vertical farming is debated. We studied the agronomic feasibility and viability of growing a medicinal plant—Euphorbia peplus—for its ingenol-mebutate content in a modified shipping container farm as an alternative crop cultivation system. The impacts of three hydroponic substrates, three light intensities, three plant localizations and two surface areas on E. peplus yield and cost were tested in several scenarios. The optimization of biomass yield and area surface decreased the cultivation cost, with fresh crop cost per kg ranging from €185 to €59. Three ingenol-mebutate extraction methods were tested. The best extraction yields and cheapest method can both be attributed to ethyl acetate at 120 °C, with a yield of 43.8 mg/kg at a cost of €38 per mg. Modeling of the profitability of a pharmaceutical gel based on ingenol-mebutate showed that economic feasibility was difficult to reach, but some factors could rapidly increase the profitability of this production.
Disciplines :
Agriculture & agronomy
Author, co-author :
Bafort, Françoise  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Gestion durable des bio-agresseurs
Kohnen, Stephan
Maron, Etienne
Bouhadada, Ayoub ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech > Doct. sc. agro. & ingé. biol. (Paysage)
Ancion, Nicolas ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Recherche > HEC Recherche: Strategy & Performance for the Society
Crutzen, Nathalie  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Recherche > HEC Recherche: Strategy & Performance for the Society
Jijakli, Haissam  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Gestion durable des bio-agresseurs
Language :
English
Title :
The Agro-Economic Feasibility of Growing the Medicinal Plant Euphorbia peplus in a Modified Vertical Hydroponic Shipping Container
Publication date :
17 March 2022
Journal title :
Horticulturae
eISSN :
2311-7524
Publisher :
MDPI AG
Volume :
8
Issue :
3
Pages :
256
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 21 April 2022

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