Italian Journal of Agronomy

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.) as an emerging companion crop in annual cropping systems: a systematic review

Alessandra Virili — 2024-04-05

Sustainable intensification is considered an efficient alternative to conventional agriculture to feed a growing population while maintaining and benefitting the environment. Intercropping is one of the most studied practices to obtain production gains and other ecosystem services. Most intercrops involve legumes and cereals, but other species combinations should be explored to further increase the diversity of intercropping systems. Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.; Polygonaceae) is an emerging minor crop which is gaining attention in alternative intercropping systems. This review provides a comprehensive view of the state of the art on the role of buckwheat as a companion crop in arable cropping systems. Despite buckwheat being well-known for its weed-suppressive ability, intercropping using buckwheat for weed control has received little attention. Few crops have so far been considered in relation to the introduction of buckwheat in annual cropping systems. This review uncovers a largely untapped research field involving buckwheat. The research perspectives are multiple as buckwheat consumption is increasing and its attractive flower resources and rapid growth offer the provision of several agro-ecosystem services that directly and indirectly benefit crop yield stability.

Participatory ecodesign of crop management based on Life Cycle Assessment: an approach to inform the strategy of a Protected Denomination of Origin. A case study in viticulture

Christel Renaud-Gentié — 2024-04-08

Since the context on environmental issues is challenging, the Cognac protected denomination of origin (PDO) adopted life cycle assessment (LCA) to inform its environmental strategy, initially focusing on vineyard soil management. This study developed a participatory eco-design approach involving stakeholders to inform the PDOs’ strategy for transitioning to less impactful crop management practices. It did this by drawing on literature that emphasises the use of participatory design, serious games, and LCA to foster knowledge sharing, engagement, and sustainability assessment. The approach that was put to the test in the Cognac PDO involved 17 elected officials with varying levels of experience. The participants used the serious game known as Vitigame (a game done for participatory ecodesign in viticulture) to ecodesign a soil management and fertilisation pathway for 2030, with the process guided by the results of the LCA. Exchange dynamics, LCA results, and participant feedback were analysed. The study revealed diverse dynamics and efficient ecodesign strategies among the participant groups, which resulted in a reduction of environmental impacts by up to 51% and raised new questions for the territory. The diversity of participants presented challenges, highlighting the need to improve LCA knowledge sharing. The workshop’s results could inform the PDO’s strategic planning. The interest of this innovative process including a serious game was confirmed, suggesting potential applications to other viticultural PDOs and adaptability to diverse sectors.

A comparison of soil water infiltration models of moistube irrigation

Binnan Li — 2024-03-06

As a water-saving method, moistube irrigation has been widely used. To ensure the effectiveness of moistube irrigation the development of an infiltration prediction model under moistube irrigation based on the interaction of multiple factors is required. In this paper, soil water infiltration tests with different bulk densities (1.2 g/cm³, 1.3 g/cm³, and 1.4 g/cm³) and textures (loamy sand, sandy loam, and clay loam) under different pressure heads (1m, 1.5m, and 2m) were designed, and the test data were analyzed by gray correlation theory. The pressure head, bulk density, clay content, silt content, sand content, and initial water content were determined as input variables, and the model structure was composed with two parameters of Kostiakov's model as output variables. Then, the genetic algorithm was used to optimize the back propagation neural network and the particle swarm algorithm to optimize the support vector machine. The soil moisture prediction model under moistube irrigation was established, finally the model was compared and analyzed. The results showed that the consistency effect of the two models was good. However, compared with the BP neural network prediction model optimized by genetic algorithm, the particle swarm algorithm optimized the support vector machine based moistube irrigation prediction model had higher accuracy. The results of this experiment can provide theoretical support for the exploration and modelling prediction of soil water infiltration under moistube irrigation.

On-farm experimentation in agronomic research: an Italian perspective

Vittoria Giannini — 2024-02-29

On-farm experimentation (OFE) renovates agronomic research since it brings researchers out of their experimental field stations to the farms, shaping the direction of research in collaboration with farmers. In the context of increasing interest in OFE, this paper aims to map the current picture of agronomic research articles published on OFE in Italy. We observe that few articles are published on OFE in Italy. Moreover, among these articles, only a few explicitly mentioned farmers’ opinions or involvement, while none of them mentioned digital technologies as enablers of OFE. Therefore, we started a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis to identify the main weaknesses and threats limiting OFE developing in Italy, along with the opportunities and strengths enabling OFE development. Despite the time-consuming research underpinning OFE, the lack of recognition by the academic community, the risk of not robust statistic, and difficulties in publishing, there are a series of opportunities emerging at the national level for which the implementation of OFE could be crucial to properly target the scopes set by the EU concerning agricultural research and innovation.

How to intensify collaboration in a participatory modelling process to collectively design and evaluate new farming systems

Jean-Marc Barbier — 2024-02-26

Agricultural research is expected to foster agro-ecological transitions. For that purpose, methodologies of participative integrated assessment of new farming and cropping systems are requested. However, the territory level and the stakeholders’ participation are often not sufficiently embraced. Based on the companion modeling approach, a group of researchers from different disciplines experimented an approach where researchers and stakeholders collaborated intensively all along the process of design and use of the model. The researchers selected a small rural area where agriculture plays a major role (Valensole plateau, south of France) and where they had not carried out any investigation before. In such conditions, we argue that the interactions between researchers and stakeholders involved in the co-design from scratch of a simulation model stimulate a collective reflection about the sustainability of current and alternative farming systems. This article describes the different phases of the process from stakeholders’ enrolment until the final discussion of the results provided by the model. It underlines the conditions that favored the emergence of consensus and the production of a new set of knowledge. It emphasizes how the discordances between data and disagreements between stakeholders were used to stimulate collective debates and underlines the role played by the model. Finally, the article discusses the drawbacks that the approach did not overcome.

Co-designing innovative cropping systems with stakeholders

Elisa Marraccini — 2024-03-19

Over the last decades, farmers have been subject to the impacts of a number of driving forces acting at the global level, which have substantially modified the structure and the organization of cropping systems [...].

Effect of sowing date and planting method on yield and components yield of three varieties of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd)

Mehrnoosh Golabi — 2024-02-08

The most important parameter for the adaptability a crop to different climates is the planting date which has the greatest influence on the phonological characteristics of the plant. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine whether it is possible to plant different varieties of quinoa at different planting dates in hot and dry climates. The experiment was conducted as a split-plot experiment based on a randomized complete block design with four replications in two crop years, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. The planting date was considered as the main plot at four levels (October 21, October 31, November 10 and November 20), the planting method (transplanting and seed sowing) as the sub-plot and the quinoa varieties (Gizal, Q26 and Titicaca) as the sub-sub-plot. The results showed that delays in planting date reduced leaf area index (LAI), plant height, grain yield components, grain yield and biological yield of quinoa. The highest values for these traits were recorded for the first sowing date of October 21, and early/late transplanting was inferior and superior to direct seed sowing, respectively. Among the varieties studied, Q26 variety was superior to the other two varieties in terms of growth, yield components and grain yield. The highest grain yield (3190 kg/ha) was recorded for Q26 under direct sowing on October 21 and the lowest (733 and 721 kg/ha) for Titicaca under direct sowing on November 20 and 30, respectively. Overall, early autumn sowing was suitable for growing different quinoa varieties in Khuzestan province due to longer growing period and avoiding the heat stress at the end of the growing period. Transplanting did not have much advantage over early seed sowing, but was better than delayed seed sowing.

Spring sown camelina (Camelina sativa) contributes to the management of three summer weeds

Noemí Codina Pascual — 2024-02-08

Camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) is an attractive drought-tolerant crop for Mediterranean regions due to its rapid growth and ability to out-compete many dicotyledonous winter annual weeds. In this experiment the weed suppression capacity of spring sown camelina against Chenopodium album L. (common lambsquarters), Polygonum aviculare L. (prostrate knotweed), and Xanthium spinosum L. (spiny cocklebur) was studied. The trial was conducted in Lleida (Spain) between 2019 and 2021, and camelina was sown in March each year. Experimental plots contained quadrats with each weed species as well as weed-free and crop-free quadrats. Height and aboveground biomass of weeds in competition with camelina decreased by over 50% compared to the controls. However, crop and weed growth had seasonal differences depending on the weather conditions: (1) a moderately dry spring promoted crop production (1573 kg ha^-1); (2) a rainy spring benefited weed development, negatively affecting crop growth and yield (739 kg ha^-1); and (3) a severe dry spring affected growth of both crop and weeds, reducing crop production by up to 80% (298 kg ha^-1). The summer weed suppression capacity of camelina is enhanced by drought conditions, which makes camelina useful for managing these weeds.

Valorization of wheat production in marginal areas: farmer-centric experimentation for variety choice and evolutionary population development

Sara Bosi — 2024-02-13

In Italy, from 2000 to 2010, 58% of farms in mountain areas were abandoned leading to a 33% decrease in available land for agriculture. This research aimed to restore value and competitiveness to the Apennine area, by proposing a balanced and sustainable agriculture model. Following the needs of farmers, underutilised cereals were selected as the ideal genetic material for the study and development of short local food supply chains. The field experiments were carried out in two organic farms located in the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy). During two growing seasons, seven wheat genotypes, two wheat evolutionary populations and one einkorn mixture were cultivated under organic farming management. Results related to functional traits are presented along with the main agronomic and technological parameters that were determined. Several nutritional properties are included. Mean yield and stability performance over environments for each genotype were explored using the “Genotype and Genotype by Environment biplot” elaboration. Considering yield performances, “Benco” was closer to the ‘ideal’ genotype. All the results were evaluated with the farmers, who expressed their own preferences from field observations. The right coupling between environment and genotypes can discourage the abandonment of hilly and mountainous farms by enhancing the economic competitiveness of agriculture in these regions.

A participatory approach to involve winegrowers in pesticide use reduction in viticulture in the south-western region of France

Mickaël Perez — 2024-02-13

Viticulture involves high pesticide use. While methods to reduce this use have been proposed by researchers, they have not yet been widely implemented by winegrowers. Involving winegrowers in the participatory design of new management strategies could encourage the adoption of these methods to reduce pesticide use. In this study, we designed and tested a participatory approach to reducing pesticide use that would be acceptable to winegrowers from a South-Western cooperative (i.e., not ‘pioneering’ winegrowers). The approach was composed of three main steps: A) co-design of the management strategies, B) implementation of the management strategies, and C) co-evaluation of the performances of the implemented management strategies. Winegrowers, researchers, advisors and engineers were involved in the study. The application of this participatory approach enabled the co-design and testing of two management strategies: IPM for Integrated Pest Management [50% reduction of pesticide treatment frequency index (TFI) as compared to the French High Environmental Value reference (HEV)], and ORG2kgCo for organic farming system with a maximum of 2 kg of copper/ha/year. These two management strategies were implemented by 11 winegrowers in three vineyards in South- Western France. In both management strategies, two main technical levers were selected to reduce pesticide use: a Decision Support System to optimise the use and substitution of pesticides by biocontrol products. The implementation of the IPM management strategy resulted in a significant reduction of TFI (from -14% to -57%, with an average of -25%, for all pesticides combined) compared to HEV, and the winegrowers who tested ORG2kgCo managed to not exceed the limit of 2 kg of copper per year. This original participatory approach, combining co-design workshops, on-farm experimentation and co-evaluation workshops, highlighted the benefits of involving winegrowers in the reduction of pesticide use.