Factors affecting soil invertebrate biodiversity in agroecosystems of the Po Plain area (Italy)

Soil is a fundamental component of the biosphere, whose properties and quality are affected by human activities, such as agriculture. Soil health is fundamental for different ecosystem services and soil biota has a crucial role in maintaining it. Elucidating how different crops and agricultural practices affect soil invertebrates communities is of relevance. In the present study, a DNA metabarcoding approach was adopted to evaluate the effects of different biotic and abiotic factors, including agricultural practices, on the composition and diversity of soil invertebrate communities of different agro-ecosystems (Po Plain-Italy). At this aim, the DNA markers and the more effective primers in retrieving soil metazoan communities were established. Bulk soil samples from different agro-ecosystems (i.e., cornfield, alfalfa, paddy fields, vineyard, stable meadow, woodland) were collected and, processed for obtaining 18S rRNA and coi sequences (raw reads analyzed using QIIME2 and R). Soil physical and chemical parameters were measured for each soil sample (e.g., pH, carbon-nitrogen ratio, texture, porosity) and metadata on farms management were retrieved. The most efficient primer pairs in recovering soil metazoans were M620F/M1260R for 18S rRNA, and mlCOIintF/jgHCO2198R for coi gene. Soil communities resulted dominated by Nematoda, Arthropoda, Annelida, Rotifera and Tardigrada. The most diverse invertebrate communities have been found in the soil of stable meadows and woodlands, while cornfields showed the lowest level of diversity. The diversity of soil invertebrate communities (Hill numbers) was positively correlated with the level of porosity and carbon-nitrogen ratio, while it was negatively correlated with the phosphate abundance. This pattern probably reflects the negative effect of excessive fertilization with phosphates on soil fauna, while the abundance of organic matter and microhabitats were found to enhance the presence of more complex communities. Other soil properties were correlated only with specific taxa (e.g., pH was negatively correlated with the diversity of Annelida and Rotifera)

Developmental stages and gut microenvironments influence gut microbiota dynamics in the invasive beetle Popillia japonica Newman (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Popillia japonica Newman (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) is a highly polyphagous invasive beetle originating from Japan. This insect is highly resilient and able to rapidly adapt to new vegetation. Insect?associated microorganisms can play important roles in insect physiology, helping their hosts to adapt to changing conditions and potentially contributing to an insect's invasive potential. Such symbiotic bacteria can be part of a core microbiota that is stably transmitted throughout the host's life cycle or selectively recruited from the environment at each developmental stage. The aim of this study was to investigate the origin, stability and turnover of the bacterial communities associated with an invasive population of P. japonica from Italy. Our results demonstrate that soil microbes represent an important source of gut bacteria for P. japonica larvae, but as the insect develops, its gut microbiota richness and diversity decreased substantially, paralleled by changes in community composition. Notably, only 16.75% of the soil bacteria present in larvae are maintained until the adult stage. We further identified the micro?environments of different gut sections as an important factor shaping microbiota composition in this species, likely due to differences in pH, oxygen availability and redox potential. In addition, P. japonica also harboured a stable bacterial community across all developmental stages, consisting of taxa well known for the degradation of plant material, namely the families Ruminococcacae, Christensenellaceae and Lachnospiraceae. Interestingly, the family Christensenallaceae had so far been observed exclusively in humans. However, the Christensenellaceae operational taxonomic units found in P. japonica belong to different taxonomic clades within this family

The role of public mass catering in local foodshed governance toward self-reliance of Metropolitan regions

European Union policy promotes the redesigning of food systems, with special focus on peri-urban agriculture and the metropolitan regions food self-sufficiency. In this context, the study has evaluated the feasibility of \u201curban food procurement model\u201d (URP-model); which is prepared based on the institutional mass catering fed by local and short supply chains, considering Milan metropolitan region a case study. A methodology was proposed to assess the potential food-self-reliance, and data-driven and geographical mapping approaches were used to define the foodshed\u2019 borders, on the basis of spatial information about local supply and demand. The URP-Model was evaluated via SWOT analysis with the main actors having a key role in the local food policy and public mass catering management. Results indicated the local supply chains that could be involved into the URP-model and their potential contribution to the public institutions food self-reliance. The related opportunity maps show the extension of foodshed for different foodstuff categories. An overview about the barriers for the URP-model development and about its potential as tool to going toward food smart governance of metropolitan areas, is provided. The results can be effective for the planning of food system by the authorities involved with the public mass catering

Forecasting Agroforestry Ecosystem Services Provision in Urban Regeneration Projects: Experiences and Perspectives from Milan

6The expansion of urban agglomerates is causing significant environmental changes, while the demand and need for sustainability keep on growing. In this context, urban and peri-urban agriculture can play a crucial role, mainly if associated with an agroecological approach. Indeed, the extensive use of living fences and tree rows can improve the environmental quality, assuring ecosystem services (ES), developing a sustainable urban food system and increasing local productions and the related socio-economic improvements. This study aims to assess the benefits of an agroecological requalification of a dismissed peri-urban area in the South Milan Agricultural Regional Park (Italy), by evaluating two possible scenarios, both involving planting trees and shrubs in that area. The software I-Tree Eco simulates the ecosystem services provision of planting new hedgerows, evaluating the benefits over 30 years. The study underlines the difference between the two scenarios and how the planted area becomes an essential supplier of regulating ecosystem services for the neighbourhoods, increasing carbon storage and air pollution removal. Results were then analysed with a treemap, to better investigate and understand the relationship between the different ecosystem services, showing a notable increase in carbon sequestration at the end of the simulation (at year 30). The study shows a replicable example of a methodology and techniques that can be used to assess the ES in urban and peri-urban environments.restrictedrestrictedAmbrogio Zanzi; Federico Andreotti; Valentina Vaglia; Sumer Alali; Francesca Orlando; Stefano BocchiZanzi, Ambrogio; Andreotti, Federico; Vaglia, Valentina; Alali, Sumer; Orlando, Francesca; Bocchi, Stefan

The environmental impacts of different organic rice management in Italy considering different productive scenarios

Rice cultivation has a key role in food security worldwide; on the other hand, it has a high potential impact on the environment and human health, mainly due to the extensive pesticides use and greenhouse gas emissions caused by flooded cultivation. In Italy, the rice sector based mainly on high-input monoculture. The transition toward organic agriculture can improve the environmental performance of rice farming according to the actual European sustainable food production strategy. Through LCA methodology, the study aims to evaluate the variability of the environmental impacts and the mitigation potential of four management strategies suitable for organic rice production in North Italy and two production potential levels observed during three-year monitoring on 10 farms in the study area. The LCA analysis includes the wide range of agronomic realities that characterise this farming system, assessing the variation in environmental performance by exploring eight plausible and possible scenarios for organic rice. Results suggest a considerable potential of organic rice production to mitigate its impact on natural resources, depending on the chosen agricultural practices. In particular, six LCA indicators showed a potential of reduction over 40 %, shifting from the worst-performing management to the better one. Finally, the large variability of climate change impacts assessed, both in this study and in literature, is due to the corresponding existing large variability in terms of yield and available patterns of agricultural practices. Today the farmers could reach acceptable yield values thanks to more efficient management than in the past. The acknowledgement for that performances relates to the development of the farmers' know-how and to the productive improvement connected to the long-term processes which characterise the organic systems (e.g. generation of soil fertility based on biological fertility and stable humus components; lowering of weeds pressure through the gradual introduction of other crops in rotation)

Assessing Ecosystem Services and Job Opportunities in Peri-urban Agriculture Start-Up Projects

Significant socio-economic changes have occurred in the last decades: among all, increased migration from rural to urban areas. It appears clear that there is a need for resilient cities, capable of combining economic and environmental sustainability. Agroecological practices, as a reduction in agrochemicals input and extended use of living fences and tree rows, can improve environmental quality, assuring ecosystem services and urban food systems, and foster local productions and socio-economic tissue, improving the overall quality of life. That is the approach of the “Urban Innovative Action” OpenAgri project, aimed at the restoration of a 35-ha peri-urban area in Milan (Italy), thanks to the creation of a start-up incubator focused on food production and at the agroecological transformation of the area. This work focuses on the quantification and the evaluation of strategies for enhancing ecosystem services and investigating their link with job opportunities. Thanks to the Pareto Front algorithm and Principal Component Analysis, we were able to understand which start-up approach could provide both new job positions and better ecosystem services. In the research, OpenAgri emerges clearly as one of the first case studies which combine urban requalification with socio-economic issues, representing a scalable strategy in other areas, to solve the increasing need for sustainability. Our results highlight that a multidisciplinary approach is needed, both to stay on the market and to supply ecosystem services, combining productive, social and environmental initiatives, resulting in the more suitable solutions to enhance the value of urban and peri-urban ecosystems, while addressing the actual socio-economic themes and creating new job

Different phytotoxic effect of Lolium multiflorum Lam. leaves against Echinochloa oryzoides (Ard.) Fritsch and Oriza sativa L.

Rice cultivation, particularly prone to weed issues, requires practices able to effectively control them, however reducing the use of herbicides, responsible for damage to human health and ecosystem sustainability. Alternative strategies for weed management can be based on plant-plant interaction phenomena. In this context, a group of organic farmers has developed a pragmatic approach for weed containment using Lolium multiflorum Lam. as a cover crop before rice. The present study aimed to confirm the farmer field observations reporting a preferential inhibitory effect of L. multiflorum on Echinochloa oryzoides (Ard.) Fritsch, one of the most yield-damaging rice weed, compared with Oryza sativa L. The study showed that L. multiflorum was able to significantly reduce the seed germination of E. oryzoides. It was found to be more susceptible than O. sativa both to the effect of the aqueous extract and powder of L. multiflorum leaves (23 – 79% vs. 3 – 57% and 26 – 100% vs. 23 – 31%, respectively). In addition, the leaf extract was able to affect E. oryzoides growth starting from 20% concentration both in relation to the root and shoot length while O. sativa exhibited differences compared with the control only under the influence of extract 50%. The L. multiflorum leaf characterization by NMR and UPLC-HR-MS analyses led to the identification of 35 compounds including several polyphenols, glycosyl flavonoids and glycosyl terpenoids, as well as different amino acids and organic acids. Some of them (e.g. protocatechuic and gallic acids) are already known as allelochemicals confirming that L. multiflorum is a source of plant growth inhibitors