1,721,201 research outputs found
Agroecological strategies for innovation and sustainability of agriculture production in the climate change context: a comparative analysis between California and Italy
Full text linkAgriculture is profoundly affected by climate change, with regions like California and Italy experiencing significant challenges due to rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events. Climate change is expected to reduce yields of specialty crops by up to 30% due to lower productivity and crop failure. To cope with climate change, farmers need to modify production and farm management practices, especially adopting agroecological principles. This mini review explores climate change impacts on agriculture through an innovative approach that seeks to compare possible response strategies in two distant regions, California and Italy, which share similar climate conditions and crops. California's agriculture, renowned for its specialty crops like nuts, fruits, and vegetables, faces intensifying droughts, reduced snowpack, and increased potential evapotranspiration, threatening water availability and crop yields. Similarly, Italy, a Mediterranean climate change hotspot, endures higher temperatures, declining rainfall, and frequent extreme events, impacting key crops like grapes, olives, and tomatoes. Both regions see vulnerabilities compounded by climate-induced pest pressures and water scarcity. Agroecology emerges as a promising solution to mitigate these impacts by enhancing soil health, conserving water, and promoting biodiversity. Practices such as cover cropping, crop diversification, organic mulching, and precision irrigation bolster resilience. Site-specific strategies and policy support are crucial for adoption, especially in small-scale farms. Collaborative knowledge-sharing between California and Italy can foster innovative solutions, ensuring sustainable and resilient agricultural systems in the face of climate change
Nutritional features of organic peas (Pisum sativum L.) cultivated in different Italian environments and rheological profile of pea‐enriched crackers
Full text linkBACKGROUND: Legumes are a key component of the human diet and a primary source of plant-based protein. They have attracted global attention as potential plant-based meat alternatives due to their numerous health benefits, and they contribute to a more sustainable and healthy food system. Among pulses, peas (Pisum sativum L.) are considered a good source of proteins, fibers, starch, minerals, and vitamins. This study evaluated the effect of environmental conditions on nutritional profile of peas cultivated in an organic farming system, in different Italian environments (mountainous and hilly), during different cultivation years (2021 and 2022). Pea grain from peas cultivated under the various conditions was used to prepare pea-based crackers containing 6% pea flour. The appearance, physical properties (rheology and texture), and nutritional profile of the snacks were evaluated, and sensory analysis was conducted. RESULTS: The nutritional and bioactive compounds were strongly related and the environment exerted a substantial impact on most of the nutritional components (proteins and carbohydrates), due to climatic conditions during the vegetative and reproductive stage of the crop. The incorporation of cultivated peas into wheat-based crackers improved their functional and nutritional quality while maintaining consumer acceptability, as demonstrated by sensory analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirmed that growing conditions significantly influence the nutritional composition of peas, enhancing their quality and that of the resulting crackers. This aligns with the increasing global demand for high-quality, sustainable food products. © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry
Characterization of Italian popualtions of Lolium spp. resistant and susceptible to diclofop-methyl by Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR)
No full textPossible involvement of herbicide sequestration in the resistance to diclofop-methyl in Italian biotypes of Lolium spp
No full textTowards an agroecological approach to crop health: reducing pest incidence through synergies between plant diversity and soil microbial ecology
Full text linkGiven environmental, economic, and social costs of unilateral chemical and biotechnological interventions to control pests, there is an urgent need to transition towards a knowledge-intensive holistic approach emphasizing agroecosystem design and management. The focus will be on what makes agroecosystems susceptible and vulnerable to insect pests, pathogens and weeds, in order to design diversified agroecosystems that prevent and suppress insect pest, pathogen and weed problems. We propose a plant health model applicable to agroecosystems that feature biodiversity enhanced designs and soils rich in organic matter and microbial life, managed with low chemical loads. In such diversified farming systems, the general protection of the plant is a consequence of mutualistic above and below ground relationships between plants, insects, and soil microbial communities. From a practical standpoint, the approach involves (a) restoring plant diversity at the landscape and field level, with spatial and temporal crop combinations that deter pests and/or enhance natural enemies and (b) increasing soil organic matter through green or animal manures, compost and other amendments, such that enhance antagonists that control soilborne pathogens. Polycultures promote a complex root exudate chemistry which plays an important role in recruitment of plant-beneficial microbes, some of which enhance plants’ innate immune system. Unleashing biotic interactions between plant diversity and increased microbial ecological activity generates conditions for the establishment of a diverse and active beneficial arthropod and microbial community above and below ground, essential for pest/disease regulation
Amylase Trypsin Inhibitors (ATIs) in a Selection of Ancient and Modern Wheat: Effect of Genotype and Growing Environment on Inhibitory Activities
Full text linkWheat amylase-trypsin inhibitors (ATIs) are a family of plant defense proteins with an important role in human health for their involvement in allergies, celiac disease and non-celiac wheat sensitivity. Information about the differences in ATI activities among wheat genotypes and the influence of the growing environment is scarce. Therefore, ten selected wheat accessions with different ploidy level and year of release, previously characterized for their ATI gene sequences, were grown during three consecutive crop years at two growing areas and used for in vitro ATI activities. The contributions of the genotype and the crop year were significant for both activities. The hexaploid wheat genotypes showed the highest inhibitory activities. Einkorn had a peculiar behavior showing the lowest alpha-amylase inhibitory activity, but the highest trypsin inhibitory activity. It was not possible to observe any trend in ATI activities as a function of the release year of the wheat samples. The two inhibitory activities were differently affected by the growing conditions and were negatively correlated with the protein content. This information can be important in understanding the extent of variation of ATI inhibitory properties in relation to the wheat genotype and the growing environment and the impact of ATIs, if any, on human health and nutrition
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Effect of sourdough fermentation and baking process severity on dietary fibre and phenolic compounds of immature wheat flour bread
No full textThis work aimed to study the interaction of sourdough fermentation based on a mixed culture of Lactobacillus plantarum 98a, Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis BB12, Lactobacillus brevis 3BHI with baking process (210–250 °C x 10–20 min) on dietary fiber and phenolic compounds content of bread obtained from immature (milky) and fully ripe flours of modern durum wheat and ancient KAMUT® khorasan wheat whole grains. The fiber in bread was analyzed by enzymatic digestion and the total dietary amount was dependent on genotype and kernel maturation stage. Although insoluble dietary fiber content ranging between 10.26 and 19.25 g/100 g dry base was generally more correlated to KAMUT® khorasan, the soluble fraction (always less than 3.83 g/100 g dry base) was associated to the durum wheat genotype. KAMUT® khorasan bread at fully ripe maturation fermented with sourdough, maximized insoluble dietary fiber content. Sourdough fermentation slightly increased the free flavonoids content while the total flavonoids (obtained by spectrophotometrically analysis) seemed mainly related to each genotype considered (ranged between 39.01 and 56.53 mg/100 g dry base) and its maturation stage. A whole chain strategy based on a combination of agronomic and processing factors was suggested to enhance specific bioactive compounds such as dietary fiber or phenolic compounds
Direct determination of aliphatic acids in honey by coelectrosmotic capillary electrophoresis
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