Soilless cultivation represent a valid opportunity for the agricultural production sector, especially in areas characterized by severe soil degradation and limited water availability. Furthermore, this agronomic practice embodies a favorable response toward an environment-friendly agriculture and a promising tool in the vision of a general challenge in terms of food security. This review aims therefore at unraveling limitations and opportunities of hydroponic solutions used in soilless cropping systems focusing on the plant mineral nutrition process. In particular, this review provides information (1) on the processes and mechanisms occurring in the hydroponic solutions that ensure an adequate nutrient concentration and thus an optimal nutrient acquisition without leading to nutritional disorders influencing ultimately also crop quality (e.g., solubilization/precipitation of nutrients/elements in the hydroponic solution, substrate specificity in the nutrient uptake process, nutrient competition/antagonism and interactions among nutrients); (2) on new emerging technologies that might improve the management of soilless cropping systems such as the use of nanoparticles and beneficial microorganism like plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs); (3) on tools (multi-element sensors and interpretation algorithms based on machine learning logics to analyze such data) that might be exploited in a smart agriculture approach to monitor the availability of nutrients/elements in the hydroponic solution and to modify its composition in realtime . These aspects are discussed considering what has been recently demonstrated at the scientific level and applied in the industrial context.

Remote-Sensing (RS) is the most widely used technique for crop monitoring in precision viticulture systems. This paper considers the possibility of substituting RS information obtained by various proximal sensing technologies employed directly in vineyards in order to enable a simultaneous evaluation of canopy health and vigour status. To this aim, a mobile lab has been developed. It consists of (a) two GreenSeeker RT100 sensors, a commercial optical device calculating NDVI, and Red/NIR indices in real time; (b) three pairs of ultrasonic sensors to estimate canopy thickness; and (c) a DGPS receiver to geo-reference data collected while travelling in a vineyard. During the 2007-2008 campaign, tests were carried out in a commercial vineyard in order to evaluate the monitoring system performance regarding disease appearance, diffusion, and vegetative development variations due to the normal growing process of vines. Surveys with the mobile lab were conducted in two groups of rows, treated and untreated with agrochemicals, and compared to manual morphological and physiological observations that characterised the phytosanitary status of the canopy. Measurement repeatability was verified; both NDVI values and ultrasonic data showed high repeatability (with r = 0.88 and r = 0.85, respectively). Optical data were processed in order to obtain NDVI maps, which clearly showed differences in canopy vigour evolution in the two examined groups, with low vegetative vigour in areas infected by Plasmopara viticola, as confirmed by manual assessment. Maps of the percentage infection index (I%I) were produced according to pathological manual survey results. The comparison between I%I and NDVI maps qualitatively confirmed the real vine phytosanitary status. Ultrasonically measured canopy thickness (UCT) was calculated and compared to manually measured canopy thickness (MCT) (r = 0.78). UCT and NDVI values were compared in order to identify areas affected by disease among zones presenting critical vegetation conditions.

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In recent decades, agriculture has faced the fundamental challenge of needing to increase food production and quality in order to meet the requirements of a growing global population. Similarly, viticulture has also been undergoing change. Several countries are reducing their vineyard areas, and several others are increasing them. In addition, viticulture is moving towards higher altitudes and latitudes due to climate change. Furthermore, global warming is also exacerbating the incidence of fungal diseases in vineyards, forcing farmers to apply agrochemicals to preserve production yields and quality. The repeated application of copper (Cu)-based fungicides in conventional and organic farming has caused a stepwise accumulation of Cu in vineyard soils, posing environmental and toxicological threats. High Cu concentrations in soils can have multiple impacts on agricultural systems. In fact, it can (i) alter the chemical-physical properties of soils, thus compromising their fertility; (ii) induce toxicity phenomena in plants, producing detrimental effects on growth and productivity; and (iii) affect the microbial biodiversity of soils, thereby influencing some microbial-driven soil processes. However, several indirect (e.g., management of rhizosphere processes through intercropping and/or fertilization strategies) and direct (e.g., exploitation of vine resistant genotypes) strategies have been proposed to restrain Cu accumulation in soils. Furthermore, the application of precision and smart viticulture paradigms and their related technologies could allow a timely, localized and balanced distribution of agrochemicals to achieve the required goals. The present review highlights the necessity of applying multidisciplinary approaches to meet the requisites of sustainability demanded of modern viticulture.

The first results of a new approach for implementing operational monitoring tool to control the performance of forest mechanisation chains are proposed and discussed. The solution is based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) tools that are the core of a datalogging system that, in combination with a specific inference-engine, is able to analyse process times, work distances, forward speeds, vehicle tracking and number of working cycles in forest operations. As a consequence the operational monitoring control methods could provide an evaluation of the efficiency of the investigated forest operations.The study has monitored the performance of a tower yarder with crane and processor-head, during logging operations. The field surveys consisted on the installation of the GNSS device directly on the forest equipment for monitoring its movements. Simultaneously the field survey considered the integration of the GNSS information with a time study of work elements based on the continuous time methods supported by a time study board. Additionally, where possible, the onboard computer of the forest machine was also used in order to obtain additional information to be integrated to the GNSS data and the time study. All the recorded GNSS data integrated with the work elements study were thus post-processed through GIS analysis.The preliminary overview about the application of this approach on harvesting operations has permitted to assess a good feasibility of the use of GNSS in the relief of operative times in high mechanised forest chains. Results showed an easy and complete identification of the different operative cycles and elementary operations phases, with a maximum difference between the two methodologies of 10.32%. The use of GNSS installed on forest equipment, integrated with the inferenceengine and also with an interface for data communication or data storage, will permit an automatic or semi-automatic operational monitoring, improving the quantity of data and reducing the engagement of the surveyor.