Search results for "Forestal"
showing 10 items of 1240 documents
TESTING THE GRAIN-SIZE DISTRIBUTION DETERMINED BY LASER DIFFRACTOMETRY FOR SICILIAN SOILS
2012
In this paper the soil grain-size distribution determined by Laser Diffraction method (LDM) is tested using the Sieve-Hydrometer method (SHM) applied for 747 soil samples representing a different texture classification, sampled in Sicily. 005_Di_Stefano(599)_39 28-12-2011 15:01 Pagina 45 The analysis showed that the sand content measured by SHM can be assumed equal to the one determined by LDM. An underestimation of the clay fraction measured by LDM was obtained with respect to the SHM and a set of equations useful to refer laser diffraction measurements to SHM was calibrated using the measurements carried out for 635 soil samples. Finally, the proposed equations were tested using independe…
New tree monitoring systems: from Industry 4.0 to Nature 4.0
2019
This is the accepted version of the article "New tree monitoring systems: from Industry 4.0 to Nature 4.0" published as final paper in Annals of Silvicultural Research Volume 43, Issue 2, 2019, Pages 84-88, http://dx.doi.org/10.12899/asr-1847 Abstract - Recently, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have grown rapidly and represent now a unique opportunity to improve our environmental monitoring capabilities at extremely low costs. IoT is a new system of thinking in which objects, animals or people are equipped with unique identifiers and transfer data to a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT has evolved from the convergence of wirele…
Potential of thermal images and simulation models to assess water and salt stress: Application to potato crop in central Tunisia
2017
The growing water scarcity is a real concern in Mediterranean countries characterized by semi-arid or arid climate such as Tunisia, where it is crucial to improve water use efficiency without affecting agricultural productivity. The importance of identifying methods and technologies to optimize water use in agriculture has been recognized worldwide, in response to the limited water availability. Objective of the paper was to verify the potential of the combined use of infrared thermography and simulation models to assess the effects of water and salt stress on potato crop parameters and crop yield, under the environmental conditions of central Tunisia. The database collected with field expe…
BEST-2K Method for Characterizing Dual-Permeability Unsaturated Soils with Ponded and Tension Infiltrometers
2019
This study presents a new method (BEST-2K) that extends the existing BEST methods for use in characterizing the water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions of matrix and fast-flow regions in dual-permeability soils. BEST-2K requires input information from two water infiltration experiments that are performed under ponded (Beerkan) and unsaturated (tension infiltrometer) conditions at the surface. Other required inputs include water content measurements and the traditional BEST inputs (particle size distribution and bulk density). In this study, first, a flowchart of the BEST-2K method was developed and illustrated with analytically generated data for a synthetic dual-permeability s…
Mapping daily evapotranspiration at field to continental scales using geostationary and polar orbiting satellite imagery
2011
Abstract. Thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing of land-surface temperature (LST) provides valuable information about the sub-surface moisture status required for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) and detecting the onset and severity of drought. While empirical indices measuring anomalies in LST and vegetation amount (e.g., as quantified by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; NDVI) have demonstrated utility in monitoring ET and drought conditions over large areas, they may provide ambiguous results when other factors (e.g., air temperature, advection) are affecting plant functioning. A more physically based interpretation of LST and NDVI and their relationship to sub-surface moistu…
Accuracy of Saturated Soil Hydraulic Conductivity Estimated from Numerically Simulated Single‐Ring Infiltrations
2019
The single-ring pressure infiltrometer (PI) method is widely used to determine saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, K s , directly in the field. The original and still most common way to analyze the data makes use of the steady-state model developed by the Canadian School in the 90s and two (two-ponding-depth, TPD, approach) or more (multiple-ponding-depth, MPD, approach) depths of ponding. The so-called Wu method based on a generalized infiltration equation allows analysis of the transient infiltration data collected by establishing a single ponding depth of water on the infiltration surface. This investigation, making use of simulated infiltration runs for initially unsaturated sand to …
Verification of IRRILAB Software Application for the Hydraulic Design of a Micro-Irrigation System by Using IRRIPRO for an Apple Farm in Sicily
2021
In recent years, many studies have been performed to develop simple and accurate methods to design micro-irrigation systems. However, most of these studies are based on numerical solutions that require a high number of iterations and attempts, without ensuring to maximize water use efficiency and energy-saving. Recently, the IRRILAB software, which is based on an analytical approach to optimally design rectangular micro-irrigation units, has been developed, providing the solution corresponding to the maximum energy-saving condition, for any slope of the laterals and of the manifold. One IRRILAB limitation is that, according to its theoretical basis, the rectangular planform geometry and uni…
Artificial Neural Networks for Predicting the Water Retention Curve of Sicilian Agricultural Soils
2018
Modeling soil-water regime and solute transport in the vadose zone is strategic for estimating agricultural productivity and optimizing irrigation water management. Direct measurements of soil hydraulic properties, i.e., the water retention curve and the hydraulic conductivity function, are often expensive and time-consuming, and represent a major obstacle to the application of simulation models. As a result, there is a great interest in developing pedotransfer functions (PTFs) that predict the soil hydraulic properties from more easily measured and/or routinely surveyed soil data, such as particle size distribution, bulk density (&rho
Using static and dynamic indicators to evaluate soil physical quality in a Sicilian area
2016
Both capacitive indicators derived from the water retention curve and dynamic measurements of the flow-weighted mean pore radius, R0, were used to assess the soil physical quality of two agricultural areas (cropland and olive orchard) and two natural areas (grassland and managed woodlot plantation) potentially subject to soil degradation. The overall idea of the study was to investigate whether a dynamic indicator quantitatively derived from hydraulic conductivity measurements could be used to supplement the traditionally applied capacitive indicators retrieved from water retention measurements. According to the available criteria, only the surface layer of the cropland site showed optimal …