Monitoring nitrogen nutritional status of vegetables in the social garden of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, NE Portugal

Urban agriculture is a global phenomenon. In developing countries urban agriculture has had crucial importance in alleviating problems of extreme poverty and unemployment of the populations of the larger cities. In developed countries has been particularly important during periods of economic depression. Nowadays, the urban agriculture in developed countries is increasing, aimed more at leisure, sports and recreation of the urban dwellers. These spaces are also emphasizing environmental education awareness by implementing environmentally friendly agricultural practices. In the case of Portugal, urban agriculture is frequently regulated by norms, implicitly or explicitly, similar to those established for organic farming. The urban agriculture project of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) is one of these kinds of projects in which participants are encouraged to use sustainable farming practices. The fertilizers used are usually farmyard manures and other organic wastes. This work takes part of a larger project that aims to monitor the nutritional status of the plants, the residual mineral nitrogen content in the soil and the contamination of plants and soils with heavy metals. In this report, it will be present results only for the first two goals