Search results for "Crops"

Modeling soil organic carbon stock after 10 years of cover crops in Mediterranean vineyards: improving ANN prediction by digital terrain analysis.

2018

Estimate changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stock after Agro Environment Measures adoption are strategically for national and regional scale. Uncertainty in estimates also represents a very important parameter in terms of evaluation of the exact costs and agro environment payments to farmers. In this study we modeled the variation of SOC stock after 10-year cover crop adoption in a vine growing area of South-Eastern Sicily. A paired-site approach was chosen to study the difference in SOC stocks. A total 100 paired sites (i.e. two adjacent plots) were chosen and three soil samples (Ap soil horizons, circa 0-30 cm depth) were collected in each plot to obtain a mean value of organic carbon c…

The Messinian Salinity Crisis deposits in the Balearic Promontory: An undeformed analog of the MSC Sicilian basins??

2021

International audience; The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) is a controversial geological event that influenced the Mediterranean Basin in the late Miocene leaving behind a widespread Salt Giant. Today, more than 90% of the Messinian evaporitic deposits are located offshore, buried below the Plio-Quaternary sediments and have thus been studied mainly by marine seismic reflection imaging. Onshore-offshore records’ comparisons and correlations should be considered a key approach to progress in our understanding of the MSC.This approach has however not been widely explored so far. Indeed, because of the erosion on the Messinian continental shelves and slopes during the MSC, only few places in …

Applicazione del modello CropSyst sui cereali e simulazione di scenari climatici futuri in Sicilia.

2011

Identification and Characterization of Stress-Responsive TAS3-Derived TasiRNAs in Melon

2019

Small interfering RNAs (siRNA) are key regulators of gene expression that play essential roles in diverse biological processes. Trans-acting siRNAs (tasiRNAs) are a class of plant-endogenous siRNAs that lead the cleavage of non-identical transcripts. TasiRNAs are usually involved in fine-tuning development. However, increasing evidence supports that tasiRNAs may be involved in stress response. Melon is a crop of great economic importance extensively cultivated in semiarid regions frequently exposed to changing environmental conditions that limit its productivity. However, knowledge of the precise role of siRNAs in general, and of tasiRNAs in particular, in regulating the response to adverse…

Soil Quality as Affected by Intensive Versus Conservative Agricultural Managements

2017

Soils, the earth’s skin, are at the intersection of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. The persistence of life on our planet depends on the maintenance of soils as they constitute the biological engines of earth. Human population has increased exponentially in recent decades, along with the demand for food, materials, and energy, which have caused a shift from low-yield and subsistence agriculture to a more productive, high-cost, and intensive agriculture. However, soils are very fragile ecosystems and require centuries for their development, thus within the human timescale they are not renewable resources. Modern and intensive agriculture implies serious concern about…

Potential effects of transgenic cotton on soil ecosystem processes in Vietnam.

2008

Research focusing on plant performance in constructed wetlands and agronomic application of treated wastewater – A set of experimental studies in Sic…

2019

Constructed wetlands are sustainable technologies for the treatment of wastewater. These biological systems have been widely studied throughout the world for more than 30 years; however, most studies have focused on the effects of design and engineering on pollutant removal from wastewater. Undoubtedly, agro-technical aspects have been given too little consideration by research. This paper reports the main results of a set of experiments carried out on two pilot horizontal subsurface flow systems in Sicily (Italy). Festuca, Lolium and Pennisetum spp. in combination and three emergent macrophytes-Arundo donax L., Cyperus alternifolius L. and Typha latifolia L.-alone, were assessed. The aim o…

Potential of the Bacillus thuringiensis Toxin Reservoir for the Control of Lobesia botrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a Major Pest of Grape Plants▿

2006

ABSTRACT The potential of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry proteins to control the grape pest Lobesia botrana was explored by testing first-instar larvae with Cry proteins belonging to the Cry1, Cry2, and Cry9 groups selected for their documented activities against Lepidoptera. Cry9Ca, a toxin from B. thuringiensis , was the protein most toxic to L. botrana larvae, followed in decreasing order by Cry2Ab, Cry1Ab, Cry2Aa, and Cry1Ia7, with 50% lethal concentration values of 0.09, 0.1, 1.4, 3.2, and 8.5 μg/ml of diet, respectively. In contrast, Cry1Fa and Cry1JA were not active at the assayed concentration (100 μg/ml). In vitro binding and competition experiments showed that none of the toxins teste…

Soil erosion assessment on tillage and alternative soil managements in a Sicilian vineyard

2011

Mediterranean crops favour high erosion rates. Vineyards use to reach the highest soil and water losses due to the lack of vegetation cover. A topographical approach by means of the use of vineyards poles as fixed reference point as erosion markers allowed to quantify high and non-sustainable soil erosion rates on the Sicilian vineyards during 9 years. In order to develop strategies to control the soil losses, seven land management were selected and applied in a typical blanc wine grape vineyard located in southwestern Sicily. Comparable plots were managed traditionally using conventional tillage and alternatively using various cover crops: 1) Vicia faba; 2) Vicia faba and Vicia sativa; 3) …

SMAP Multi-Temporal vegetation optical depth retrieval as an indicator of crop yield trends and crop composition

2017

Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD) is related to Vegetation Water Content (VWC). This provides new and highly valuable information for ecological and agricultural studies. In this work, VOD from the Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) satellite has been retrieved with the new Multi-Temporal Dual-Channel Algorithm (MT-DCA). Then, it has been applied to the study of crop yield trends and crop composition. The increase on VOD (¿VOD) during crop development has been compared to yield data in two selected regions located in the United States. The first region presents a heterogeneous crop composition and weak ¿VOD-yield relationship (r2=0.21). The second region presents a highly homogenous cover and…