ALBERT

Description: In intensive agriculture, N supply often exceeds crop requirements, even in nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZ). In farmland, the N surplus gives rise to NO3− leaching and consequent groundwater pollution. The present study aimed at proposing measures to reduce N leaching and hence improve N efficiency in a buffalo livestock farm located in the NVZ of Latina plain (Central Italy). The farm was cultivated with forage crops in a double annual crop rotation: Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) in winter and silage corn (Zea mays L.) in summer. Mineral and organic fertilizers were supplied to both crops. The annual N budget and soil solution NO3-N concentrations were evaluated using a modeling approach. The performance of the WinEPIC model in simulating the response of the NO3-N concentration in percolation to the N application rate was assessed and validated by field measurements of the NO3-N concentration in the soil solution. Three scenarios were proposed to identify the best practice to minimize the environmental impact of N application without significant yield loss. Also, recommendations of best practices in N fertilization and animal manure spreading were given. This study thus provides useful preliminary information for decision-making in agriculture/environmental policies.

Description: Fusarium species are known to establish manifold interactions with wild and crop plants ranging from pathogenicity to endophytism. One of the key factors involved in the regulation of such relationships is represented by the production of secondary metabolites. These include several mycotoxins, which can accumulate in foodstuffs causing severe health problems to humans and animals. In the present study, an endophytic isolate (A1021B), preliminarily ascribed to the Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (FIESC), was subjected to biochemical and molecular characterization. The metabolomic analysis of axenic cultures of A1021B detected up to 206 compounds, whose production was significantly affected by the medium composition. Among the most representative products, fusaric acid (FA), its derivatives fusarinol and 9,10-dehydro-FA, culmorin and bikaverin were detected. These results were in contrast with previous assessments reporting FIESC members as trichothecene rather than FA producers. However, molecular analysis provided a conclusive indication that A1021B actually belongs to the species Fusarium babinda. These findings highlight the importance of phylogenetic analyses of Fusarium species to avoid misleading identifications, and the opportunity to extend databases with the outcome of metabolomic investigations of strains from natural contexts. The possible contribution of endophytic strains in the differentiation of lineages with an uneven mycotoxin assortment is discussed in view of its ensuing impact on crop productions.

Description: Olive anthracnose is a very common and severe disease caused by diverse species of fungi belonging to Colletotrichum acutatum and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides complexes. To understand aspects of the Colletotrichum colonization and primary infection in olives, Colletotrichum spp. were isolated from the interior of 2-year stems, flower buds, and immature fruits of three important olive cultivars, Galega vulgar, Cobrançosa, and Azeiteira, from different sites within Alentejo, a major olive-producing region in Portugal. A total of 270 trees was sampled, and 68 Colletotrichum spp. isolates were obtained from 46 olive trees. DNA extraction and amplification of β-tubulin and GADPH genes through PCR revealed that the vast majority of the isolates showed high similarity to Colletotrichum nymphaeae, and only three isolates showed high similarity to Colletotrichum godetiae. The highest number of Colletotrichum spp. isolates was detected in olive trees from Galega vulgar and in immature fruits. No significant differences in the number of Colletotrichum spp. isolates were found in trees from different sites. The highest percentages of infected immature fruits were obtained in trees that also presented a high percentage of 2-year stem infections, which may indicate that 2-year stems serve as important sources of inoculum, and the fungus may travel from the stems to other parts of the plant. Another indication of such possibility is that one isolate of C. nymphaeae (C. nymphaeae 2), characterized by a unique nucleotide mutation within the beta tubulin gene, was present in different organs of the same tree, both in 2-year stems and in recently formed vegetative organs as flower buds and immature fruits, which seem to suggest that it may be the same isolate, which has moved systemically inside the plant. The results presented here can play an important role in working out strategies for the effective and timely management of the disease and in reducing the number of unnecessary fungicide applications.

Description: It is known that plant-based ethnomedicine represented the foundation of modern pharmacology and that many pharmaceuticals are derived from compounds occurring in plant extracts. This track still stimulates a worldwide investigational activity aimed at identifying novel bioactive products of plant origin. However, the discovery that endophytic fungi are able to produce many plant-derived drugs has disclosed new horizons for their availability and production on a large scale by the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, following the path traced by the blockbuster drug taxol, an increasing number of valuable compounds originally characterized as secondary metabolites of plant species belonging to the Spermatophyta have been reported as fermentation products of endophytic fungal strains. Aspects concerning sources and bioactive properties of these compounds are reviewed in this paper.

Description: Ecological intensification, based on agricultural practices that promote ecosystem services, has been recently proposed to match crop yield and environmental concerns. Two-year experiments were conducted in a Mediterranean environment. The treatments were: (i) four intensification levels (common vetch (CV), ryegrass (RG), bare soil without Nitrogen (N) fertilization (Control-N0) and with 100 kg ha−1 of N fertilization (Control-N100) applied during pepper cultivation), and(ii) two soil tillage [soil tillage at 15 cm and 30 cm of soil depth (ST-15 and ST-30, respectively)]. The field experiment was disposed in a randomized block design with three replications. Cover crop, soil samples, and pepper samples were collected for analysis. Soil available nitrogen increased after soil tillage, especially in CV, which showed the highest fruit yield. The reduced soil N availability in RG decreased fruit yield and N uptake. The agro-physiological efficiency of pepper was similar in common vetch and Control-N100, while it was low in ryegrass. However, the adoption of RG increased the soil organic matter more than both control treatments, which, in turn, caused a depletion of soil organic matter. Moreover, reduced tillage practices for green manuring that both cover crops arepreferable to reduce external inputs in terms of fuel saving and farming operations.

Description: Agricultural policies have impacts on land use, the economy, and the environment and their analysis requires disaggregated data at the local level with geographical references. Thus, this study proposes a model for disaggregating agricultural data, which develops a supervised classification of satellite images by using a survey and empirical knowledge. To ensure the consistency with multiple sources of information, a minimum cross-entropy process was used. The proposed model was applied using two supervised classification algorithms and a more informative set of biophysical information. The results were validated and analyzed by considering various sources of information, showing that an entropy approach combined with supervised classifications may provide a reliable data disaggregation.

Description: (1) Biodiversity, sustainable development and nature conservation are fundamental issues nowadays. All companies, administrations, governments and international organisations take these issues into consideration. Sustainable forest management always requires a compromise between profitability and conservation and in this fragile equilibrium, forest certification plays a key scheme. This sustainable management is of great importance in the European Union (EU), with the Forest Stewardship Council playing a fundamental role in forest certification. This certification forms the basis of the ecosystem conservation and improvement strategy in Ence, Energía y Celulosa, the leading company dedicated to the production of eucalyptus in Spain; (2) A three-phase protocol (identification of High Conservation Values, assessment of conservation areas and monitoring program), has been developed, providing clear, objective criteria, particularly concerning FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Principle 9, the primary goal being the development and application of these objective criteria in the Ence conservation areas in the province of Huelva (Spain). One of the main criteria for habitat classification was correspondence with the habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive. The compatibility between forest exploitation management and conservation proposed by the Natura 2000 network encouraged us to use this methodology for the identification, classification and assessment of High Conservation Values considered in FSC forest certification: Principle 9; (3) The study encompasses 183 forest management units covering 52,022 ha, with a total of 11,847.45 ha being identified as High Conservation Value Areas. Through the identification and assessment of the conservation areas, the described methodology played a crucial role in demonstrating the positive impact of Ence’s certified forest management on the conservation of biological diversity; (4) This study demonstrates that an objective and reliable identification, assessment and monitoring methodology, with a proven high degree of accuracy in the location and characterisation of interesting and representative habitats in the region, can be implemented. Due to its objectivity, this strategy can be easily applied to other European sustainable forest management sites and possibly to other countries outside the EU.

Description: Land, Vol. 7, Pages 62: A Minimum Cross-Entropy Approach to Disaggregate Agricultural Data at the Field Level Land doi: 10.3390/land7020062 Authors: António Xavier Rui Fragoso Maria de Belém Costa Freitas Maria do Socorro Rosário Florentino Valente Agricultural policies have impacts on land use, the economy, and the environment and their analysis requires disaggregated data at the local level with geographical references. Thus, this study proposes a model for disaggregating agricultural data, which develops a supervised classification of satellite images by using a survey and empirical knowledge. To ensure the consistency with multiple sources of information, a minimum cross-entropy process was used. The proposed model was applied using two supervised classification algorithms and a more informative set of biophysical information. The results were validated and analyzed by considering various sources of information, showing that an entropy approach combined with supervised classifications may provide a reliable data disaggregation.

Description: Agriculture, Vol. 8, Pages 55: Crop Systems, Quality and Protection of Diplotaxis tenuifolia Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture8040055 Authors: Gianluca Caruso Giuseppe Parrella Massimo Giorgini Rosario Nicoletti Perennial wall-rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L.) D.C.) is a herbaceous plant belonging to the Brassicaceae with a cosmopolitan distribution. Traditionally harvested as a spontaneous herb, today it is a crop species of increasing importance after the diffusion of the ready-to-use salads in the vegetable retail markets. Besides relevance as a food crop, its consumption is prompted by consideration in the traditional medicine of several peoples in the native areas of the Mediterranean and western Asia based on recognized health beneficial effects. In fact, the leaves have notable nutritional properties related to their contents of glucosinolates and some antioxidant compounds, such as vitamin C and flavonoids, which entitle their dietary inclusion for the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. This paper provides an overview on aspects concerning the biology, crop management, nutritional properties, industrial processing and uses of perennial wall-rocket.