• Energy Research

Bioenergy crops are well known for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the soil carbon stock. Although such crops are often held to be in competition with food crops and thus raise the question of current and future food security, at the same time mitigation measures are required to tackle climate change and sustain local farming communities and crop production. However, in some cases the actions envisaged for specific pedo-climatic conditions are not always economically sustainable by farmers. In this frame, energy crops with high environmental adaptability and yields, such as giant reed (Arundo donax L.), may represent an opportunity to improve farm incomes, making marginal areas not suitable for food production once again productive. In so doing, three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations would be met, namely SDG 2 on food security and sustainable agriculture, SDG 7 on reliable, sustainable and modern energy, and SDG 13 on action to combat climate change and its impacts. In this work, the response of giant reed in the marginal areas of an agricultural district of southern Italy (Destra Sele) and expected farm incomes under climate change (2021-2050) are evaluated. The normalized water productivity index of giant reed was determined (WP; 30.1gm-2) by means of a SWAP agro-hydrological model, calibrated and validated on two years of a long-term field experiment. The model was used to estimate giant reed response (biomass yield) in marginal areas under climate change, and economic evaluation was performed to determine expected farm incomes (woodchips and chopped forage). The results show that woodchip production represents the most profitable option for farmers, yielding a gross margin 50% lower than ordinary high-input maize cultivation across the study area.

Objective of this work is the evaluation, in quantitative terms, of the adaptability of eleven olive cultivars to future climate in a composite (hills and plains) area of Southern Italy (Valle Telesina, Campania Region, about 20.000 ha). The yield response of the cultivar to soil water availability has been characterized using experimental data unpublished and data from scientific literature. Cultivar-specific threshold values of two deficit indicators were identified, above which yield reduction is economically unacceptable. For each cultivar, the critical values were compared with the values of indicators calculated for reference (1961-1990) and future (2021-2050) climate. We assessed that eight cultivars will be compatible with predicted climate change in a small part of the study area, Manzanilla fina will not be compatible, while the Cobrancosa and Picual cultivars will do so in the whole area.

This article introduces a new web-based and freely accessible tool, the Nitrate Fate tool (NFt), for the assessment of groundwater vulnerability to nitrate pollution in a variety of pedoclimatic conditions. The contamination of water resources by nitrate, in fact, represents a growing and persistent global environmental problem, and the utilization of practical tools to assist personnel working in the agricultural sector is key for mitigating the impact on land use, while maintaining farmers’ incomes. The (NFt) has been developed and integrated into the geospatial decision support system, LandSupport, as a way to support multiple stakeholders in conducting the so-called what-if scenario analysis (e.g., what would happen to the crop production if I substitute a quote of inorganic fertilizer with the same quote of an organic one?). The tool couples a state-of-art crop-growth model—which simulates crop growth dynamics, the nitrogen and carbon cycles—with a novel transfer function model in order to assess the transport of nitrate through the unsaturated zone to the groundwater table. Within the LandSupport platform, the results are shown both as coloured maps and as cumulative charts representing the travel times and the concentrations of root leachate to groundwater table depths. This work details the tool’s rationale, the coupling of the models, and their implementation. Moreover, this article shows examples of applications supporting several public authorities and end-users, underlining that, by combining all of the information on soils, groundwater table depths, management and climates, it is possible to obtain a comprehensive understanding of nitrogen transport dynamics. Two case studies are presented: the Piana del Sele and the eastern plain of Naples, both located in the Campania region of Italy. The results of the tool’s applications reveal significant groundwater vulnerability in both plains, mainly due to the shallow groundwater table depths, resulting in remarkably fast mean nitrate travel times ranging from 0 to 6 years. Finally, the tool provides a reproducible and replicable solution, and future implementation is foreseen for additional case studies all over the world.

Terroir is a French term with roots in the Latin term terra meaning ground or land. In the international wine jargon, the term has assumed a more specific and nuanced meaning: it is the result of "collective knowledge of the interactions" between the environment and the vines mediated through human action and "providing distinctive characteristics" to the final product (i.e., wine; OIV, 2010). Terroir is not just a geographical site, but includes: (i) the physical environment (e.g., climate, geology, soil, and topography); (ii) the biological material and production practices; (iii) cultural, socio-economical and political aspects. Nowadays, the storytelling of terroir is abundant in both the popular press and marketing of wine. Although there is no reference to wine quality in the description of the terroir concept (OIV, 2010), wines which may be associated with a single vineyard are often deemed superior, although wines derived from multiple sites may also be highly regarded (Bramley, 2017). According to OIV, 2010, which should be considered an accepted definition, terroir is a loose interpretation of a protected designation of origin (PDO), thus questioning the need for a wine-specific term. For example, in the regulation of the European Union (EC No. 510/2006 Art. 2.1(a), Council of the European Union, 2006), in order to benefit from PDO status, an agricultural product needs to: i) originate and be produced, processed and prepared in the defined geographical area and ii) have "quality or characteristics essentially or exclusively due to a particular geographical environment with its inherent natural and human factors." The concept of geographical origin can be used in all crops and foods, and PDOs are defined and regulated. Conversely, the terroir interpretation applies mostly to wine and is not regulated, which leaves it open to abuse and self-assessment without control, scientific evidence or socio-historical recognition (Matthews, 2016). As a result, in the current popular use, the term terroir has erroneously become jargon for vineyard site. A designation of origin is a strict regulation. In order to maintain characteristics related to the place and the traditional practices, PDO products are made according to production standards, and are evaluated before introduction to the market, to ensure conformity to the important and distinctive characteristics that are the reason for the designation. It should be clear that, when including all aspects, a PDO is a product that brings a sense of place (although, PDO delineation most commonly follows political boundaries and not the limits derived from scientific understandings). Reverse engineering of geographically designated products may be straightforward, but it is definitely harder to recreate the collective knowledge, the human and cultural aspects, which are crucial to the past but also the future developments of food.

The effects of interactions between the genotype and environmental conditions are expressed in the phenotype. Comparing the performances of genotypes under the same range of environmental conditions allows for relative measurements to be made of the different levels of plasticity among those genotypes. The objective of this research was to evaluate the different responses of two wine grape cultivars, native Aglianico and international Cabernet Sauvignon, under different pedoclimatic conditions in terms of the functional traits that govern grapevine bud fruitfulness, vegetative growth, and yield development. The study was conducted over two consecutive seasons (2020 and 2021), in six commercial Vitis vinifera L. vineyards, located in three distinct viticultural regions of central-southern Italy (Molise, Campania, and Sicily). In each experimental vineyard, the bud fruitfulness, number of leaves, total leaf area per vine, midday vine water status, and fruit yield were measured. The obtained results showed that bud fruitfulness was higher for Aglianico than for Cabernet Sauvignon in each experimental site, while the variability of plant responses between the vineyards was lower for Cabernet Sauvignon cultivar compared to those for Aglianico. The genetic × environmental interactions were expressed predominantly during berry ripening stages, while plasticity was generally greater in Aglianico than in Cabernet Sauvignon.

Adaptation to climate change is a major challenge facing the agricultural sector worldwide. Olive (Olea europaea L.) is a global, high value crop currently cultivated in 28 countries worldwide. Global data to assess the vulnerability of the crop to climate variability are scarce, and in some notable cases, such the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization database (FAO, 2006), qualitative assessments rather than quantitative indicators are provided. The aim of this study is to demonstrate a new approach to help overcome these constraints toward a globally applicable method to assess the adaptability of olive cultivars. The adaptability of 11 cultivars, widely used in 11 countries worldwide, was studied using a new generic approach based on the evaluation of soil hydrological regime against cultivar-specific hydrological requirements. The approach requires local data, notably on soil hydrological properties, but it is easily transferable to other countries and regions. We applied an agrohydrological model in 60 soil units to determine hydrological indicators both in a reference (1961-1990) and a future (2021-2050) climate case. We compared indicators with cultivar-specific requirements to achieve the target yield; requirements were established using experimental yield response curves. We estimated the probability of adaptation, i.e., the probability that a given cultivar attains the target yield, and we used it to evaluate the cultivar potential distribution in the study area. At the locations where soil hydrological conditions were favorable, the probabilities of adaptation of the cultivars were high in both climate cases. The results show that the area with suitable conditions for the target yield (area of adaptability) decreased under future climate for all the cultivars, with higher reduction for Frantoio and Maiatica and smaller reduction for Itrana, Nocellara, Ascolana, and Kalamata. These cultivars are currently grown in Argentina, United States (US), Australia, France, Greece, and Italy. Our results indicate also that these cultivars require higher available soil water to attain the target yield, i.e., we may expect similar vulnerability in other parts of the world. Based on these findings, we provide some specific recommendations for enrichment of global databases and for further developments of our approach, to increase its potential for global application.

Climate change, causing increasing warming and drought in Mediterranean area, is year by year determining grapevine yield and berry quality reductions, with particular extent in some of the autochthonous grape varieties, as Greco grapevine, cultivated in the Campania Region (southern Italy) and used alone or blend in many quality label wines. Since pedo-climatic conditions affect vineyard productivity and grape quality, the adoption of adequate cultivation techniques, such as soil and canopy management, can support vineyard in counteracting climate change effects, improving grape yield and berry quality, thus allowing to obtain highly valuable wines. The evaluation of the Greco grapes quality by the analysis of primary metabolites of the grape and the secondary ones, with an oenological impact responsible for the organoleptic quality and the longevity of the white wines, is pivotal for understanding whether the adopted cultivation practices might mitigate the negative effects deriving from long-lasting exposure of grapes to drought and/or rainy periods which may determine the onset of organoleptic defects in the wines.In the framework of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, Campania Region funded the Grease project to contribute to the main topic of improving grapevine productivity, resource use efficiency and resilience for the sustainable management of vineyards.Within the general objective of the Grease project, the aim of this study was to evaluate how different combinations of main cultivation practices, as vine canopy and soil management, can allow to exert a balanced  vegetative and reproductive growth that enhances grape and wine quality, improving farm profitability.The three-year trial was carried out in a Greco experimental vineyard of Feudi di San Gregorio winery in southern Italy (Avellino, Campania region), aiming to analyze the effects of three soil management practices (cover crops, natural coverage, and soil tillage) and two vine training systems (double guyot and double guyot flipped) on yield, berry and must quality in three vintages.  The meteorological data and soil water content were collected through weather stations and time-domain reflectometry (TDR) technique.At harvest yield components were determined and berry quality was evaluated by measuring soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, malic acid, phenolics, assimilable nitrogen etc. Apart usual chemical analytical methodologies, spectrophotometric and chromatographic techniques were used to determine phenolic composition of grapes and wines. Microvinifications were also performed to evaluate the variability of oenological traits under different combination of soil and canopy management.A great effect of year on primary and secondary metabolites were detected. Soluble solids and total phenolic compounds increased passing from 2020, 2021 and 2023 while a clear trend for titratable acidity and pH was not observed due to a wide variation in malic acid content.  Among soil management practices natural coverage and cover crops resulted in grapes with lower content of soluble solids while the soil tillage determined a lower content of phenolic compounds and hydroxycinnamic acids in grapes. In two years, soil tillage determined higher content of assimilable nitrogen in grapes probably because a lower competition for nitrogen occurred. Trends observed in grapes were confirmed in wines.