Map of suitability for the spontaneous growth of Tuber magnatum in Emilia-Romagna (Italy)

In this work we used an inductive and deductive approach to produce the map of Suitability for the Spontaneous Growth of Tuber magnatum (white truffle) (SSGT) in Emilia-Romagna region (northern Italy). This map was produced in order to identify the environments where appropriate actions should be applied to protect this threatened truffle species.The steps used to define the map were: 1) surveying and mapping the actual productive areas (APAs) in two provinces of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna and Modena); 2) identification of some morphological, climatic, vegetational and pedological properties related to T. magnatum development; 3) production of digital maps representing the value that each property assumes in discrete land portions; 4) overlapping the map of APAs with each of the thematic maps and selection of the properties showing the strongest relationships with the presence of T. magnatum; 5) creating the map of SSGT, covering the whole hilly area of Emilia Romagna region; 6) assessing the reliability of the SSGT map, by overlapping the APAs map and the areas of the provinces of Parma and Piacenza where the mycelium of T. magnatum was found using specific PCR.The relationships found by means of the inductive approach (comparison between selected properties and observed frequency of truffle) demonstrated its effectiveness in predicting deductively the areas with distinct suitability for truffle

evapotranspiration of tomato simulated with the criteria model

The CRITERIA model simulates crop development and water dynamics in agricultural soils at different spatial scales. The objective of this paper was to test CRITERIA in order to evaluate the suitability of the model as a tool for scheduling irrigation at field scale. The first step of the work was to validate this hypothesis, by means of calibration and validation of CRITERIA on processing tomato in two experimental sites in Southern Italy (Rutigliano and Foggia) for the years 2007 and 2008 under different irrigation regimes. The irrigation treatments were: i) absence of plant water stress (the control treatments set up for both years and sites), ii) moderately stressed (applied in Rutigliano for 2007), and iii) severely stressed (applied in Foggia for 2008). The second step consisted in the evaluation of the expected impact of different irrigation regimes on daily actual evapotranspiration. For model calibration, the 2007 data of the control treatment was used, whereas in the validation process of actual evapotranspiration, the other part of the dataset was used. The observed data were crop evapotranspiration, agrometeorological data, leaf area index, physical-chemical and hydrological characteristics of soil, phenological stages and irrigation management. In order to evaluate model performance we used three statistical indicators to compare simulated and measured values of actual evapotranspiration: the normalized differences of seasonal values are less than 10% for all treatments; the model efficiency index on the typical period between two irrigations (4 days) was positive for all treatments, with the best values in the Foggia site, for both the irrigated and the severely stressed experiments; the relative root mean square error (RRMSE) was smaller than 20% in both the control treatments, but higher than 30% for the stressed treatments. The increase in RRMSE for the stressed experiments is due to CRITERIA simulating a crop in good soil water conditions and, as a consequence, with a larger evapotranspiration demand with respect to water stressed crop. Therefore, we can consider CRITERIA as a suitable tool to manage irrigations of processed tomato, especially for the full irrigation regime; an improvement can be reached by simulating the impact of water stress conditions on the eco-physiological parameters of the crop, in order to use the model also under deficit irrigation regimes

Evapotranspiration of tomato simulated with the CRITERIA model

The CRITERIA model simulates crop development and water dynamics in agricultural soils at different spatial scales. The objective of this paper was to test CRITERIA in order to evaluate the suitability of the model as a tool for scheduling irrigation at field scale. The first step of the work was to validate this hypothesis, by means of calibration and validation of CRITERIA on processing tomato in two experimental sites in Southern Italy (Rutigliano and Foggia) for the years 2007 and 2008 under different irrigation regimes. The irrigation treatments were: i) absence of plant water stress (the control treatments set up for both years and sites), ii) moderately stressed (applied in Rutigliano for 2007), and iii) severely stressed (applied in Foggia for 2008). The second step consisted in the evaluation of the expected impact of different irrigation regimes on daily actual evapotranspiration. For model calibration, the 2007 data of the control treatment was used, whereas in the validation process of actual evapotranspiration, the other part of the dataset was used. The observed data were crop evapotranspiration, agrometeorological data, leaf area index, physical-chemical and hydrological characteristics of soil, phenological stages and irrigation management. In order to evaluate model performance we used three statistical indicators to compare simulated and measured values of actual evapotranspiration: the normalized differences of seasonal values are less than 10% for all treatments; the model efficiency index on the typical period between two irrigations (4 days) was positive for all treatments, with the best values in the Foggia site, for both the irrigated and the severely stressed experiments; the relative root mean square error (RRMSE) was smaller than 20% in both the control treatments, but higher than 30% for the stressed treatments. The increase in RRMSE for the stressed experiments is due to CRITERIA simulating a crop in good soil water conditions and, as a consequence, with a larger evapotranspiration demand with respect to water stressed crop. Therefore, we can consider CRITERIA as a suitable tool to manage irrigations of processed tomato, especially for the full irrigation regime; an improvement can be reached by simulating the impact of water stress conditions on the eco-physiological parameters of the crop, in order to use the model also under deficit irrigation regimes

Regional scale validation of two soil water and nitrogen models on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and peach (Prunus persica L.)

Models are potentially useful tools for both growers and policy makers, to guide the nitrogen fertilization in order to reconcile environmental and productive issues. This research aimed at testing two water balances and nitrogen transport models, MACRO/SOILN (Larsson and Jarvis, 1999; Marchetti et al., 2000) and CRITERIA (Marletto et al., 2001; Hutson and Wagenet, 1992), in actual cropping conditions in a rather large area of the eastern Po river plain. It was funded by the regional government of Emilia-Romagna through the CRPV, in order to support the regional nitrogen application policies for a more sustainable crop production

The Vamos project: regional scale validation of two models predicting soil N availability for a more sustainable fertilization of wheat and peach crops

Models are potentially useful tools for both growers and policy makers, to guide the nitrogen fertilization in order to reconcile environmental and productive issues. This research, funded by the regional government of Emilia-Romagna and Crpv in view of testing the regional nitrogen application policies for a more sustainable crop production, aims at the extensive testing of water balance and nitrogen transport models in actual cropping conditions in a rather large area of the eastern Po river plain

La scienza pu\uf2 guidare la concimazione azotata?

Il lavoro d\ue0 conto di una ricerca multidisciplinare sull'uso dei modelli nella razionalizzazione della concimazione azotata del frumento e del pesco

GIS, mechanistic modelling and ontology: a performing mix for precision and sustainable viticulture.

10 pagesInternational audiencePrecision viticulture has been developing very rapidly in the last two decades. Operational systemscommonly use GIS, spatial interpolation, modelling, real time geolocalization, remote sensing and more recently,drone technology. Whereas precision viticulture is all about high space and time resolution of either measurements,analysis, diagnostics or decision support, few operational systems are built in an integrative way, combining manytechniques and data sources. Within the European VINTAGE project, hourly time step climate data measurements,topography-based spatial interpolation, mechanistic soil, plant and disease models, remote sensing information anda decision support system are integrated within a GIS server to provide an operational tool for sustainable vineyardmanagement for the grapegrower. The current study presents the overall system framework and first examples ofmodel validation