Saving water resources in agriculture is a topic of current research in Mediterranean environments, and rational soil management can allow such purposes. The Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters (BEST) procedure was applied in five olive orchards of Salento peninsula (southern Italy) to estimate the soil physical and hydraulic properties under alternative soil management (i.e., no-tillage (NT) and minimum tillage (MT)), and to quantify the impact of soil management on soil water conservation. Results highlighted the soundness of BEST predictions since they provided consistent results in terms of soil functions or capacitive-based soil indicators when (i) the entire data set was grouped by homogeneous classes of texture, bulk density, and capillarity of the soil, (ii) the predictions were compared with the corresponding water retention measures independently obtained in lab, and (iii) some correlations of literature were checked. BEST was applied to establish a comparison at Neviano (NE) and Sternatia (ST) sites. The two neighboring NT soils compared at NE showed substantial discrepancies in soil texture (i.e., sandy loam (NE-SL) or clay (NE-C)). This marked difference in soil texture could determine a worsening of the relative field capacity at the NE-SL site (relative field capacity, RFC < 0.6), as compared to NE-C where RFC was optimal. The current soil management determined a similar effect (RFC < 0.6) at Sternatia (ST-MT vs. ST-NT), but the worsening in soil properties, due to soil tillage, must be considered substantially transient, as progressive improvement is expected with the restoration of the soil structure. The results of this work suggest that strategic MT can be a viable solution to manage the soil of Salento olive orchards.
The objective of this study was to compare the results of calcimetric and dry combustion methods for quantitative estimation of soil total inorganic carbon (TIC). To this aim, 117 soil samples from three localities in the Mediterranean area (one in Spain and two in Southern Italy), representing a wide range of total inorganic carbon contents (ranging from 1.9 to 54 g 100g−1), were collected. TIC (expressed as CaCO3) was quantified using the volumetric calcimeter method, as reference, and dry combustion in order to find an accurate and rapid method, suitable for different types of soils. The results revealed a concordance between the two methods compared, as shown by the recovery values close to one, for the whole data set and for data grouped per experimental site. Specifically, the dry combustion method showed slightly greater values of TIC compared to volumetric method, probably due to soil acid pretreatments, in dry combustion, and to an incomplete decomposition of carbonates that would require more time for removal, in a calcimeter method. Linear regression equations between the two methods were not affected by different soil types. Overall, our study demonstrated that the dry combustion was a reliable method and could provide accurate estimates of TIC in soils with different calcium carbonate content.
The use of treated wastewater to irrigate the sugar beet (Beta Vulgaris L. var. saccharifera) for bioethanol could play a strategic role to contrast the use of natural water resources and increase the productivity of the crop. The 2-year experiment (2013-2014) was performed on sugar beet irrigated with fresh water and wastewater at different steps of the reclamation process (secondary and tertiary treatments). The data obtained showed that the root sugar beet yield and ethanol production under fresh water treatment (52.2 Mg ha -1 and 5446 L ha -1 ) were lower respect to that obtained from the secondary and tertiary wastewater treatments (66.7 Mg ha -1 and 6785 L ha -1 , and 58.7 Mg ha -1 and 6164 L ha -1 , respectively), with the same irrigation volumes. These results can depend on the higher quantity of nutrient uptake when wastewater is used for irrigation. In particular, the average N applied (as nitrate and ammonium) with irrigation during the growing seasons (2013 and 2014) was corresponding to the supply of 4, 28 and 20 kg ha -1 , for the fresh water, secondary, and tertiary wastewater treatments, respectively.
Parole chiave: Condizionalità; sviluppo rurale; Standard 2.1; gestione delle stoppie e dei residui colturali; competitività.Lavoro svolto nell'ambito del Progetto MO.NA.CO. (Rete di monitoraggio nazionale dell'efficacia ambientale della condizionalità e del differenziale di competitività da essa indotto a carico delle imprese agricole) finanziato dal Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali (MiPAAF) nell'ambito del Programma Rete Rurale Nazionale nel contesto dell'Azione 1.2.2 "Laboratori interregionali per lo sviluppo" del Programma Operativo denominato "Rete Rurale Nazionale 2007 -2013 Coord. Paolo Bazzoffi".Contributi: Domenico Ventrella: capofila Standard 2.1, coordinatore UO CREA-SCA, stesura del testo ed elaborazione dati delle UO, progettazione e allestimento dispositivo sperimentale: Francesco Montemurro:, coordinatore UO CREA-SSC, progettazione e allestimento dispositivo sperimentale, elaborazione dati, stesura del testo. Vittorio Alessandro Vonella: allestimento dispositivo sperimentali, conduzione agronomica, rilievi di campo, campionamenti. Luisa Giglio: rilievi di campo, campionamenti, elaborazione dati. Francesco Fornaro: rilievi di campo, campionamenti, elaborazione e georeferenziazione dati. Mirko Castellini: rilievi di campo, campionamenti, elaborazione dati. Rita Leogrande: rilievi di campo, campionamenti, elaborazione dati. Carolina Vitti: analisi chimiche del suolo (monitoraggio di SCA), elaborazione dati. Angelo Fiore: rilievi di campo, elaborazione dati, stesura del testo. Mariangela Diacono: rilievi di campo, elaborazione dati, stesura del testo. Marcello Mastrangelo: analisi chimiche del suolo (monitoraggio di SCA). Nino Virzì: coordinatore UO CREA-ACM, progettazione dispositivo sperimentale, rilievi di campo, stesura del testo. Francesco Intrigliolo:. già coordinatore UO CREA-ACM, progettazione dispositivo sperimentale. Massimo Palumbo: elaborazione dati e stesura del testo. Michele Cambrea: allestimento dispositivi sperimentali, conduzione agronomica, rilievi di campo, campionamenti. Alfio Platania: allestimento dispositivi sperimentali. Fabiola Sciacca: elaborazione dati. Stefania Licciardello: rilievi di campo, campionamenti, analisi qualitative. Antonio Troccoli: coordinatore UO CREA-CER, progettazione dispositivo sperimentale, rilievi di campo, elaborazione dati, stesura del testo. Mario Russo: rilievi di campo, elaborazione dati, stesura del testo. Rosa Francaviglia: coordinatore UO CREA-RPS, stesura del testo ed elaborazione dati. Ulderico Neri: allestimento delle prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo, rilievi differenziale competitività, stesura del testo ed elaborazione dati. Margherita Falcucci: analisi di laboratorio sui parametri chimici del suolo e dei vegetali. Giampiero Simonetti: allestimento delle prove sperimentali, rilievi differenziale competitività e rilievi di campo. Olimpia Masetti: analisi di laboratorio sui parametri biochimici e biologici del suolo. Gianluca Renzi: analisi di laboratorio sui parametri biochimici e biologici del suolo. Marisanna ...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.