103,237 research outputs found
Monitorage de la salinité du sol suite à l’irrigation avec des eaux à degré de salinité divers
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Monitoraggio della salinità del suolo a seguito della irrigazione con acque a diverso grado di salinità.
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Effects of crop rotation and N fertilizer on grain yield, qualitative characteristics and nitrogen uptake of durum wheat
No full textEffects of Cropping Systems Fertility on Durum Wheat Nitrogen Uptake, Yield and Qualitative Characteristics
Ignazio Poma, Luciano Gristina, Saverio Saladino, Giacomo Venezia, Carmelo Dazzi
Dipartimento di Agronomia Ambientale e Territoriale – Viale delle Scienze – 90128 Palermo –Italy [email protected]
Abstract
The aim of the trial was to evaluate cropping system effects and nitrogen fertilization on uptake and nitrogen efficiency of durum wheat in terms of qualitative and quantitative yield in a Mediterranean semi arid environment. A four year trial (2000 – 2004) was carried out in the “Sparacia” experimental farm (Sicily – Italy) on Eutric Vertisols. The effects of two cropping systems (durum wheat monocropping and durum wheat - field pea) on durum wheat were investigated in interaction with three nitrogen fertilizations: 0, 60 and 120 kg ha-1. The results showed that qualitative and productive durum wheat response was strongly influenced by year and nutrient availability. Crop rotation and nitrogen fertilization showed an high significativity for all examined characters. Field pea cropping system determined an increase of durum wheat yield (about 20%), as well as the highest nitrogen rate in durum wheat monocropping. Yield and grain quality raged among years due to climatic trend from 5.2 and 1.6 t ha-1 during the four year trial, and generally low yield correspond to high protein and gluten content
Soil genetic erosion: New conceptual developments in soil security
No full textIn the last decades, in some Mediterranean areas, pedodiversity decreased mainly due to pedotechnique application in large-scale farming that transformed original soils into Anthrosols. Supporting the consideration that soils can be considered as living systems, the original concept of 'soil genetic erosion' is re-proposed. Data, extrapolated and modeled from a Soil Information System in a study case representative of a Mediterranean landscape, predicted that most of the soil types would disappear in few years leading to a decrease of the soil diversity and originating soil genetic erosion. This circumstance is intentionally here told in form of a story where the fairy tale characters are some soils facing extinction in the landscape. Soil genetic erosion could result in a negative impact on the environment because it reduces the soil's security through a drastic reduction of the soil ecosystem services with a decrease of the immaterial benefit for the environment. The conviction that soils, as well as animals and plants, are living bodies, and pedodiversity is equally important as biodiversity in maintaining sustainability and ecosystem services, might truly attract the attention of the public opinion. Besides, focussing more on the soil economic dimension and strengthening the assignation of 'economic value' to the soil ecosystem services, also politicians and administrators could increase their interest in soil security. (C) 2019 International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation and China Water and Power Press. Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V
Pedotechnique application and soil security in intensive viticulture: an (im)possible link!
No full textSince ancient times Man and Soil have experienced interwoven links. Nowadays
soil scientists continue to stress such links highlighting the importance of soil to
provide man’s growing demand for food, water and energy, and also the soil’s im-
portance in providing ecosystem services that affect climate change, human health
and biodiversity.
In soil management for agricultural purposes, pedotechniques to tailor soils suita-
ble for table grapes cultivation in large-scale farming are used to get substantial fi-
nancial returns. However, farmers in tailoring soils for high income crops, fre-
quently do not take into account the fundamental objective of the pedotechnique, i.
e. to meet the needs of man, avoiding any undesirable environmental consequences
that may occur during handling of earthy materials. Indeed, we should consider that
any human intervention on the environment, could originate new soilscapes and
new soils whose security should be verified.
In this note, we report on an emblematic case study of pedotechniques application
in Sicily (Italy). After stressing the threats to soil security derived by the presence
of anthropogenically tailored soils for table grapes cultivation, we assess their eco-
nomic sustainability, taking into consideration only the internal factors and exclud-
ing the external economic contributions that are allocated to social sustainability.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the financial investment, results have been com-
pared with profitability data related to traditional crops without pedotechniques ap-
plication. Results highlight that the transformation of the soilscape, from one hand,
allows for considerable investment costs, on the other hand, the highest productivi-
ty and the consequent higher profitability of the cultivation, compared to the con-
ventional crops, allow to amortize the startup costs. We cannot ignore that this
transformation could trigger potentially a considerable decrease in quality of the
environment and in pedodiversity
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