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Area of Agronomy: Field and Vegetable crops
The science of field, vegetable and forage crops
requires an integrated approach involving scientists from several disciplines.
Agronomists, physiologists, ecologists are well represented in a multi-discipliniary
group aimed at addressing yield constraints and environmental issues in
crop production. Biotechnology, crop modelling and system analysis are
some of the tools used in the ongoing research.
| Address |
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Viale Fanin, 44 - 40127 Bologna - Italy
Phone: +39.051.2096240
Fax: +39.051.2096245 |
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| Professors and Researchers |
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| Teaching activities (2002/2003) |
| Field crops |
42 credits |
| Forages |
17 credits |
| Vegetables |
15 credits |
| Seed technology |
5 credits |
| Crop physiology |
4 credits |
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PhD
at DiSTA
Field and vegetable crop sciences (Prof.
G. Toderi) |
| Laboratory and research facilities |
• Experimental farms and stables
• Didactic plots for crop identification and phenology
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Laboratory for seed analysis and testing
• Chemioluminometer
• HPLCs, GCs
• Mass spectrometers
• Gas
exchange analyzer
• Horizontal and vertical electrophoresis
systems
• Capillary electrophoresis
• End-point
and real-time PCR systems
• PCR systems
• Stereoscopes
• Image analysis tools |
The
overall objectives of the research group are:
biology and production of grain, industrial and vegetable crops,
production and conservation of forage crops; seed production and
technology; crop physiology, plant nutrition.
Biology and production of field crops
According to the current EU targets,
research on crops and cropping systems is focused on improving plant
use of natural resources and agricultural techniques. Interactions
among crops, environment, management systems are studied to find
the best economic and environmental sustainable solutions for farmers.
The main research involves grain, industrial and vegetable crops
for food and non-food purposes in relation to:
- evaluation of genotypes;
- sustainable crop management;
- quantity and quality of production;
- reduction of CO2 emission by replacing
fossil fuels with energy crops.
Crop physiology
The influence of management (agronomic
inputs) and abiotic stresses on assimilate allocation are being
investigated. The influence of environmental stresses and agronomic
inputs on the expression of functional compounds (isoflavonoids,
lignans) in monocotyledon and dicotyledon crops is studied. The
aim of the research is to evaluate the potentialities of different
crops as sources of nutraceutical and functional compounds. The
main research involves:
- canopy and leaf photosynthesis;
water and nitrogen use efficiency;
- growth analysis, crop modeling;
- expression physiology of isoflavonoids
in legume crops;
- durum and soft wheat as functional
crop (biosynthesis of lignans and other polyphenolic compounds).
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Forage crops growing and forages conservation
The production, conservation and transformation
of feedstuffs are being investigated.
The main research concerns:
- identification of the best agronomic practices for several
forage crops;
- best techniques for conservation and improvement of silages,
quality of beef cattle feeding;
- evaluation of natural contaminants (mycotoxins) of grain and
forage crops;
- chemical analysis of fiber compounds of feedstuffs and by-products,
(lignin-cellulose, polyphenols, tannins).
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Seed biology and production
The agronomic aspects of seed production
are being investigated in relation to:
- planting techniques;
- irrigation, fertilisation and chemical treatments;
- development and validation of methodologies in several fields
of seed testing;
- evaluation of techniques for variety characterisation based
on biochemical and molecular markers;
- development and validation of methods for the detection of
GM seeds in conventional seed lots based on qualitative and quantitative
PCR.
Plant nutrition
The overall goal is the understanding of
crop nutrient use to develop fertilization strategies that optimize
crop production and minimize environmental risks.
Research includes:
- nutrient availability during crop growth;
- microbial activity in the root-zone, genetic variability in
crop responses to soil fertility;
- nutrient cycling in production systems fertilized with various
organic materials (manures, slurries, sludges and crops residues).
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The main research topics
concern: quantitative
and qualitative traits of
crop production, system
sustainability, use and
preservation of natural
resources (soil, water,
atmosphere,
biodiversity) land use
and management (rural
and urban areas).
Field crop researches are
mainly focused on the
optimisation of various
cropping techniques,
determining their best
performance from a
production and
environmental stand
point, and on the
introduction in
agricultural systems of
new food and non-food
industrial crops for
multifunctional uses.
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