Search results for "Agronomia"
showing 10 items of 614 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…
Assessment of production and qualitative characteristics of different populations of Salvia sclarea L. found in Sicily (Italy)
2021
Salvia sclarea L. is an important industrial crop, valued for its herbal-aromatic properties and high quality essential oils, that is used in food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In this study, carried out from 2009 to 2010, the morphological and production characteristics and essential oil content and composition of three Sicilian populations were studied. In particular, the composition of essential oils extracted from primary and secondary inflorescences using steam distillation was assessed. Morphological, production and qualitative data from the three populations were subjected to analysis of variance and cluster analysis. Regarding the quality of the oils, only the most prevalent compo…
Functional, textural and sensory properties of dry pasta supplemented with lyophilized tomato matrix or with durum wheat bran extracts produced by su…
2016
A study was carried out to produce functional pasta by adding bran aqueous extract (BW) and bran oleoresin (BO) obtained using ultrasound and supercritical CO2, respectively, or a powdery lyophilized tomato matrix (LT). The bioactive compounds, hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant activity (HAA and LAA) in vitro, were evaluated. BW supplementation did not improve antioxidant activity, whilst LT pasta showed unconventional taste and odor. BO pasta had good levels of tocochromanols (2551 μg/100 g pasta f.w.) and carotenoids (40.2 μg/100 g pasta f.w.), and the highest HAA and LAA. The oleoresin altered starch swelling and gluten network, as evidenced by scanning electron microscopy, therefor…
Outlook from the soil perspective of urban expansion and food security
2021
The use of soil as support for built-up areas represents only one of its several functions. Farmlands at the fringe of conurbations have more chance of being converted into built-up areas due to the favourable topography and the accessibility to existing infrastructure, being in the vicinity of urban areas. We analysed the global land-take during the period 2000–2014. The data are based on a global dataset describing the spatial evolution of human settlements using the Global Human Settlement Layer, which was derived from Landsat images collected in 1975, 1990, 2000 and 2014. Although the global land-take represents roughly 0.1% of the global terrestrial Earth, it affects 1% of the naturall…
Identification and characterization of durum wheat microRNAs in leaf and root tissues.
2017
MicroRNAs are a class of post-transcriptional regulators of plant developmental and physiological processes and responses to environmental stresses. Here, we present the study regarding the annotation and characterization of MIR genes conducted in durum wheat. We characterized the miRNAome of leaf and root tissues at tillering stage under two environmental conditions: irrigated with 100% (control) and 55% of evapotranspiration (early water stress). In total, 90 microRNAs were identified, of which 32 were classified as putative novel and species-specific miRNAs. In addition, seven microRNA homeologous groups were identified in each of the two genomes of the tetraploid durum wheat. Differenti…
Cultivation trials of hop (Humulus lupulus L.) in semi-arid environments
2020
Abstract The recent developments in the market and craft beer industry in Italy have led to an increasing demand for local raw materials, such as barley malt and hops. Few works have been addressed to evaluate suitability and productivity of hop in semi-arid Italian environments. With this purpose, two experiments were carried out in 2018 and 2019, testing the suitability to cultivation of three commonly used hop varieties (Cascade, Chinook and Nuggett) in two typical semi-arid environments in Sicily. Phenological stages were also evaluated, and GDDs accumulated in vegetative and reproductive stages were calculated according to 9 different methods, dealing with three Tbase temperatures (0 °…
St. Augustinegrass accessions planted in northern, central and southern Italy: Growth and morphological traits during establishment
2018
The use of warm season turfgrasses is a consolidated trend in the climatic transition zone of Mediterranean countries, in particular St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) begins to be widespread in warm coastal areas. However, little is known about the performance of the different cultivars of this species in southern Europe. In 2016-2017 a trial was carried out in three locations in Italy, Padova, Pisa, and Palermo, located in the north, center and south of the country respectively. Four cultivars (Floratine, Captiva, Sapphire, Palmetto) and five ecotypes (CeRTES 201, CeRTES 202, CeRTES 203, CeRTES 204, CeRTES 205) were compared in terms of their growth characteristic…
Seashore paspalum in the Mediterranean transition zone: phenotypic traits of twelve accessions during and after establishment
2017
The use of warm-season turfgrasses is consolidated in the transitional areas of Mediterranean countries and some field trials have provided information on the adaptability of seashore paspalum to Mediterranean environment. Nonetheless, little is known on the performance of the different commercial cultivars of <em>Paspalum vaginatum</em> in this climatic zone. Furthermore, considering the high degree of variability of this species, ecotypes have the potential to supply new plant material with desired turf characteristics. The research aimed at comparing growth characteristics and morphological traits of eight commercial cultivars of seashore paspalum (Platinum, Salam, SeaDwarf, …
Aromatic and proteomic analyses corroborate the distinction between Mediterranean landraces and modern varieties of durum wheat
2016
AbstractIn this paper volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from durum wheat cultivars and landraces were analyzed using PTR-TOF-MS. The aim was to characterize the VOC’s profile of the wholemeal flour and of the kernel to find out if any VOCs were specific to varieties and sample matrices. The VOC data is accompanied by SDS-PAGE analyses of the storage proteins (gliadins and glutenins). Statistical analyses was carried out both on the signals obtained by MS and on the protein profiles. The difference between the VOC profile of two cultivars or two preparations of the same sample - matrices, in this case kernel vs wholemeal flour - can be very subtle; the high resolution of PTR-TOF-MS - down to…
Development of a method for the direct fermentation of semolina by selected sourdough lactic acid bacteria
2016
Three obligately heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains (Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis PON100336, Leuconostoc citreum PON10079 and Weissella cibaria PON10030) were used in this study as a multi-species starter culture for sourdough production. The starter inoculum was prepared and propagated in sterile semolina extract (SSE) broth. Acidification kinetics, microbiological counts detected on specific media for sourdough LAB, polymorphic profile comparison and species-specific PCRs evidenced a stability of the liquid inoculum over time determining its suitability for direct addition to semolina. In order to validate this innovative method for the production of durum wheat (Trit…