In recent years, awareness on sustainable land use has increased. Optimizing the practice of nitrogen fertilization has become crucially imperative in cropping management as a result of this current trend. The effort to improve the availability of organic nitrogen has incurred a bottleneck while seeking to achieve a high yield and quality performance for organic winter cereals. Field experiments were conducted, under rainfed Mediterranean conditions, over a period of two subsequent growing seasons. The objective was to investigate the effect of soil and foliar S application on the performance of three durum wheat cultivars fertilized with either organic or inorganic N. The hypothesis to be verified was if different S fertilization strategies could improve grain yield and quality when coupled with mineral or organic N fertilizer. There were three levels of treatment with mineral N fertilizer (120, 160 and 200 kg ha −1 ), two levels of organic N fertilizer (160 and 200 kg ha −1 ), two levels of S fertilizer applied to the soil (0 and 70 kg ha −1 ), and two levels of foliar S application at flag leaf stage (0 and 5 kg ha −1 ). Cultivars were Dylan, Iride and Saragolla. Analyzed traits were grain yield, yield components and quality features of grain. Overall, at the same N rate, grain yield and quality were markedly higher for mineral than organic N source. Cultivar × Year × N treatment interactions significantly affected grain yield and quality indices. Iride showed a high yield stability throughout the mineral N rates in the most favorable year (2011) and, in the same year, was the top performing cultivar in organic N treatments. Dylan was the top performing cultivar for protein content, while Saragolla for the SDS sedimentation test. Soil S fertilization had no effect on grain quality, whereas it significantly increased grain yield (+ 300 kg ha −1 ) when coupled with organic rather than a mineral N source. However, foliar S application at flag leaf stage did not affect grain yield, but it significantly enhanced quality indices such as test weight (81 vs. 79.9 kg hL −1 ), protein content (13.7% vs. 12.9 %) and SDS value (72.5 vs. 70.5 mm). A rate of 160 kg ha −1 of N (both mineral and organic) determined the optimal response for both grain yield and quality. Finally, soil and foliar application of S may help to contain the large yield and quality gap that still exists between mineral and organic fertilization of durum wheat.
Hop market and beer industry have always been of secondary relevance in Italy as compared to grape and wine sector. Hence, hop cultivars and the information for growing hops have been generated almost entirely from the major hop production countries. Identifying cultivars that perform well in Mediterranean environments is therefore essential to successfully start hop cultivation and breeding activity in this new growing region. To evaluate the intraspecific diversity of hop in Central Italy, 20 female hop genotypes with different origin were screened during three growing seasons (2013-2015) in an experimental hop yard. Cones yield, plant height and crop phenology were evaluated to determine which cultivars were best suited to the Mediterranean climate. Moreover, given the rising interest for the development of local beers with distinguishing aroma, a sensory analysis was performed and beers flavoured with locally produced and imported cones were compared. A significant diversity among cultivars was found for all parameters investigated. The results indicated that weather condition during flowering and development of cones markedly affected yield and plant height. Cones yield was negatively correlated with thermal time (r=–0.5, P<0.05) to harvest and positively with plant height (r=0.56, P<0.05). <em>Cascade</em>, <em>Hallertauer Magnum</em>, <em>Hersbrucker Spa</em>t and <em>Yeoman</em> showed the best adaptability to the Mediterranean growing conditions as they were the top-performing cultivars across the three years. Sensory analysis evidenced the importance of cultivar selection as determining factor for flavouring properties of beers. In general, results showed that the origin of cones strongly affected the mouth feel of beers. More complex and appreciated aroma profiles were identified for beers flavoured with local cones than those hopped with commercial products.
Recently, biofuels have become a strategic focus to reduce vehicle emissions and increase sustainability of the transport sector. However, the sustainability of biofuels production has been questioned owing to its implications for future land footprint. In this respect, the EU Commission has very recently classified as low indirect land-use change (ILUC)–risk biofuels those obtained by crops grown on marginal lands and with low external inputs. Only few crops can reach high yields under both of these conditions across Europe. From this point of view, Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) is certainly a species worthy of remark since it has all the attributes to accomplish the aims of the updated EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). Starting from physiological aspects, the present review examines and summarizes literature on the ecology, genetic resources, agronomic practices and sustainability of this species. The goal is to point out the recent advances of research in Jerusalem artichoke (JA) potential as alternative biofuel feedstock and to identify what is still needed to better characterize its environmental benefits and agronomic performance.
The common hop (Humulus lupulus L.) is a dioecious perennial climbing plant, mainly known for the use of its female inflorescences (cones or, simply, “hops”) in the brewing industry. However, the very first interest towards hops was due to its medicinal properties. Actually, the variety of compounds present in almost all plant parts were (and still are) used to treat or prevent several ailments and metabolic disorders, from insomnia to menopausal symptoms as well as obesity and even cancer. Although hops are predominantly grown for hopping beer, the increasing interest in natural medicine is widening new interesting perspectives for this crop. Moreover, the recent success of the craft beer sector all over the world, made the cultivated hop come out from its traditional growing areas. Particularly, in Europe this resulted in a movement towards southern countries such as Italy, which added itself to the already existing hop industry in Portugal and Spain. In these relatively new environments, a complete knowledge and expertise of hop growing practices is lacking. Overall, while many studies were conducted globally on phytochemistry, bioactivity, and the genetics of hops, results from public research activity on basic hop agronomy are very few and discontinuous as well. The objective of this article is to provide an overview of possible uses, phenology, and agronomic aspects of hops, with specific reference to the difficulties and opportunities this crop is experiencing in the new growing areas, under both conventional and organic farming. The present review aims to fill a void still existing for this topic in the literature and to give directions for farmers that want to face the cultivation of such a challenging crop.
The use of native species in landscape design is a choice related to environmental sustainability and it contributes to the aesthetic appeal of urban and marginal areas. However, to date, the lack of knowledge of the ecological characteristics and agronomic practices of these species, represents a limit for their use. This study aims to obtain information about germination ecology, morphological traits and ornamental value of 7 selected perennial native taxa, with potential use in meadows seed mixtures for the Mediterranean environment. Seed germination for each taxon was assessed under different conditions (temperature, photoperiod and pre-treatment) in a controlled environment, while data on plant performances was collected from field plots. In general, the dormant seeds showed a positive response to pre-treatment with gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) and chilling within a period of about six months from the time of seed collection. The dependence of germination on light and temperature was observed in most of the tested taxa.Differences in plant height and flowering dynamics gave practical directions in terms of combining seeds of different species to create and maintain a wildflower meadow in lowmaintenance areas. Crepis bursifolia L. and Hypochaeris radicata L. were the only two species which showed good persistence during the two-year field study and met the aesthetic requirements of low-input Mediterranean landscaping. Our study by adding original findings to the limited knowledge available on wildflower sowing in the Mediterranean environment,contributes to the development of sustainable strategies in the greening projects designed for those peculiar climatic conditions.
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