Search results for "040103 agronomy & agriculture"
showing 10 items of 794 documents
Effects of environment and sowing time on growth and yield of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars in Sicily (Italy)
2020
Cotton is one of the most important industrial crops in the world. Though widely cultivated in Sicily (Italy) in the past, cotton growth on the island has disappeared today due to a complex variety of agronomic, economic and socio-political reasons. In recent years, increased interest in natural fibers worldwide has led to a revival in cotton plants in the Mediterranean area. The aim of this paper was to assess the response of Gossypium hirsutum L. cultivars to different environments and sowing times. Elsa and Juncal were selected from the most promising cotton cultivars regarding earliness and productivity. Plants were tested with three sowing times and in two Sicilian environments. Cotton…
Planting Systems for Modern Olive Growing: Strengths and Weaknesses
2021
The objective of fully mechanizing olive harvesting has been pursued since the 1970s to cope with labor shortages and increasing production costs. Only in the last twenty years, after adopting super-intensive planting systems and developing appropriate straddle machines, a solution seems to have been found. The spread of super-intensive plantings, however, raises serious environmental and social concerns, mainly because of the small number of cultivars that are currently used (basically 2), compared to over 100 cultivars today cultivated on a large scale across the world. Olive growing, indeed, insists on over 11 million hectares. Despite its being located mostly in the Mediterranean countr…
Abiotic Stress Tolerance of Coastal Accessions of a Promising Forage Species, Trifolium fragiferum
2021
Crop wild relatives are valuable as a genetic resource to develop new crop cultivars, better adapted to increasing environmental heterogeneity and being able to give high quality yields in a changing climate. The aim of the study was to evaluate the tolerance of different accessions of a crop wild relative, Trifolium fragiferum L., from coastal habitats of the Baltic Sea to three abiotic factors (increased soil moisture, trampling, cutting) in controlled conditions. Seeds from four accessions of T. fragiferum, collected in the wild, were used for experiments, and cv. ‘Palestine’ was used as a reference genotype. Plants were cultivated in asymbiotic conditions of soil culture. Treatments wer…
Rootstock and Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Combinatorial Effects on Eggplant Crop Performance and Fruit Quality under Greenhouse Conditions
2020
The herbaceous grafting of fruiting vegetables is considered a toolbox for safeguarding yield stability under various distresses and for improving fruit quality. Inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi seems also to be an efficient tool for increasing the assimilation, uptake and translocation of macroelements and microelements, for modulating plant secondary metabolism and for overcoming several forms of plant distress. The present work evaluated the combined effect of grafting the &ldquo
Effect of Vermicompost Extract and Vermicompost-Derived Humic Acids on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Hemp
2017
Abstract Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivars grown for industrial use have recently emerged as a sustainable alternative source of industrial fibre and bioenergy, and is a highly valuable food and animal feed resource. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of vermicompost extract, vermicompost mineral nutrient composition, and vermicompost-derived humic and fulvic acids on seed germination and growth of hemp seedlings. In general, separate application of all vermicompost components stimulated seed germination and hypocotyl and radicle growth, as well as increased chlorophyll concentration in cotyledons. Effective concentration range and the degree of stimulation varied sig…
Phytotoxicity of Essential Oils on Selected Weeds: Potential Hazard on Food Crops
2018
The chemical composition of winter savory, peppermint, and anise essential oils, and in vitro and in vivo phytotoxic activity against weeds (Portulaca oleracea, Lolium multiflorum, and Echinochloa crus-galli) and food crops (maize, rice, and tomato), have been studied. Sixty-four compounds accounting for between 97.67&ndash
Discussion of "extraction of the flow rate equation under free and submerged flow conditions in pivot weirs with different side contractions" by N. S…
2018
This paper is the discusison of the paper "Extraction of the flow rate equation under free and submerged flow conditions in pivot weirs with different side contractions" by N. Sheikh Rezazadeh Nikou, M. J. Monem, and K. Safavi.
Soil genetic erosion: New conceptual developments in soil security
2019
In the last decades, in some Mediterranean areas, pedodiversity decreased mainly due to pedotechnique application in large-scale farming that transformed original soils into Anthrosols. Supporting the consideration that soils can be considered as living systems, the original concept of 'soil genetic erosion' is re-proposed. Data, extrapolated and modeled from a Soil Information System in a study case representative of a Mediterranean landscape, predicted that most of the soil types would disappear in few years leading to a decrease of the soil diversity and originating soil genetic erosion. This circumstance is intentionally here told in form of a story where the fairy tale characters are s…
Testing soil water repellency in a Sicilian area two years after a fire
2019
The water drop penetration time (WDPT) technique was applied in 2018 to check persistence of soil water repellency (SWR) in a Sicilian mountain area affected by a wildfire on June 2016. A total of four sites, that were severely water repellent immediately after burning, were sampled. Depending on the site, wettable soil conditions, less SWR and maintenance of a noticeable SWR were detected two years later. At the site showing a near-constant SWR, WDPTs were particularly high in the top soil layer (0-0.03 m) and they appreciably decreased more in depth. Signs of decreasing SWR in drier soil conditions and in association with coarser soil particles were also detected at this site. High gradie…
Analytical approach extending the Granier method to radial sap flow patterns
2020
Abstract The Granier thermal dissipation (TD) method is probably the most applied method to compute the transpiration flux of trees, due to its simplicity and effective compromise between theory and data availability. Starting from the heat transfer equations at the basis of Granier’s method, the objective of this paper is to derive an analytical solution for the transpiration flux to extend the sap flow equations to the radial domain. We adopted a flexible approach to cope with the differences in radial sapflow density (SFD) profile shapes that are known to occur in relation to wood anatomy (diffuse porous vs. ring- or non-porous xylem). With this purpose, we investigated the robustness of…