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In order to be able to provide useful indications for the reintroduction of peanuts in the Italian territory, the aim of this work is to compare the production yields of the peanut variety grown in two areas, San Severo (FG) and Frignano (CE) , evaluating the total losses experienced during the extraction and harvesting phase. The seed was positioned at a depth of 3-5 cm, with a planting layer of 0.08 m on the row and 0.75 m between the rows. Scrape Hull method was used, which consists of starting five representative plants in different part of area, get 100 developed pods is used. The peanut harvest is divided into two phases. For the first phase, the excavation phase was used the 2–row Digger-inverter COLOMBO C-200. The second phase of the harvest, in both areas, was carried out with the Colombo Double Master II Harvester, a machine specialized in the harvesting of peanuts and beans. The variables analyzed to evaluate the peanut mechanization process were: Estimated yield, Excavation losses, Harvest losses and net yield. The estimated yield was made before the excavation phase, 3 plots of 11.25 m2 (15.0 m x 0.75 m) were used in each area. The excavation losses were divided into visible losses (VDL), invisible losses (IDL) and total excavation losses given by the sum of the visible and invisible losses. For this purpose, to manually collect the visible leaks, metal frames (n.3 / areal) of about 7.5 m2 (10.0 m x 0.75 m) were positioned through the swaths. The harvest losses were sampled after the harvest of the Colombo Double Master II Harvester machine. The net yield was calculated considering the estimated yield net of total excavation losses added to harvest losses. The estimated excavation losses in both territories were practically equal, 0.79 q/ha in Frignano, equal to 2.89% of the estimated production, and 0.76 q/ha in San Severo, equal to 2.41% of the estimated production. The losses in the subsequent phase of separation of the pod were 2.08 q/ha in Frignano, approximately 7.6% of the estimated production and 1.79 q ha in San Severo, equal to 5.7% of the estimated production. Overall, total crop losses were 10.49% (2.89 q/ha) in Caserta and 8.11% (2.55 q/h) in the Apulian fields. The results achieved in this first experimental cultivation test with the use of mechanization yards not known in the area, show that with greater accuracy of the cultivation techniques and an improvement of the harvesting phase it is possible to have a margin for improving the production level, obtaining yields greater than about 10%, which in relation to the commercial value of the product can represent a significant increase in the profitability of cultivation., Proceedings of the 28th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 July 2020, Virtual, pp. 155-159

Uno studio monografico sulle antiche varietà di pero dell’Emilia-Romagna può sembrare un’opera fuori tempo, magari inutile, o sembrare la riproposizione di un catalogo descrittivo, già appartenuto alla letteratura specialistica del passato e perciò consegnato alle biblioteche storiche. Ma non è così, per una serie di ragioni. Fra queste ci sarà certamente il desiderio di ritornare alle abitudini e ai sapori del passato, ormai scomparsi dalle nostre tavole, alimentate come sono dalle pere del presente, che seguono unicamente logiche mercantili. Ma nell’attuale ricerca di nuovi indirizzi agricoli volti a modificare la frutticoltura intensiva, verso principi corrispondenti ad una sostenibilità ecologica ambientale e salutistica, il recupero di un patrimonio genetico del passato, in parte consolidato da secoli di coltura, richiede conoscenze e valutazioni dirette.

the experimentation was carried out on two specific typologies of orchards, hazel and olive grove, that are of great importance in the agricultural landscape of Lazio, an Italian region where research work was developed.The possibility of using pruning residues as a raw material was considered. This is biomass that is usually disposed of through combustion at the edges of fields. Operation, among other things prohibited, which releases numerous pollutants and represents one of the main sources of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The aim of the work was to use the residues in the development of an energy chain considering also the possibility of improving the commercial value of pruning residues transforming them into a more profitable final product. From the quantitative and qualitative analysis carried out, the two types of pellets could have an energy purpose within an industrial context, but not a residential one., Proceedings of the 28th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 July 2020, Virtual, pp. 364-367

The activity was aimed to identify the best raw material suitable for pellet production. The experimentation was carried out using poplar plantations at the end of the ninth year of age using whole trees, stems without branches and branch/treetops. The dendrometric characteristics of the trees and the qualitative characteristics of the pellets produced were assessed. Some parameters, such as the heating value and moisture content, ashes and melting point were determined before and after pelleting in order to identify any differences directly related to the transformation process. The work concludes a previously presented work that concerned the production and characterization of pellets starting from 3 and 6–years–old poplar. The pellets produced with nine–years–old poplar wood reach the requirements of class A1 for diameter, length, moisture content, ash melting point, lower heating value. A general improvement of quality parameters was observed by transforming the poplar wood chips into pellets in terms of ash content and ash melting point. Furthermore, the use of the branches in the production process seems to influence the physical parameters of the pellet, more than the energetic ones., Proceedings of the 28th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 July 2020, Virtual, pp. 360-363

Fast growing trees planted as Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) are an important source of lignocellulosic biomass, due to their high yields, good combustion quality, ecological and social benefits and relatively low production costs. The quality and the price of the biomass are determined by its particle size distribution, heating value, moisture and ash content. These parameters can vary significantly as a function of the wood species and the time between the cutting phase and the chipping phase.In 2015, the Department of Agriculture of the University of Naples Federico II and the Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (Crea), carried out some tests to identify the characteristics of the chips in eight different species grown as SRC, chipped after two months of storage: Fraxinus angustifolia, Robinia pseudoacacia, Salix alba, Populus nigra (Limatola) and four genotypes of Populus x euroamericana (Grimminge, Vesten, Hoogvorst, Muur). The average moisture content of the species was 29.30%, with an average heating value and ash content of 21.77 MJ kg-1 and 2.02%, respectively. These values differ among the various species and genotypes considered. The particle size distribution analysis revealed, instead, that independently from the species, the most represented class size was 45 to 3 mm. The variability observed in terms of dried biomass quality suggest the possibility to identify the species more suitable for the biomass combustion analyzing the mainly quality parameters, choosing the best species or different species mix wood chips to offer a better product in the commercial biomass marketing., Proceedings of the 26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 14-17 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 342-345

The recent growth in global pellet demand has been driven largely by EU renewable energy targets to cut GHG emissions by 20% compared to 1990 levels by 2020. European policies promoting bioenergy are partly based on analyses showing that increased use of bioenergy can contribute to both energy and climate objectives. The rapid growth of the pellet market has been so remarkable that wood pellets represent one of the largest internationally traded solid biomass commodities. In large-scale biomass supply chains, the increased energy density of pellets reduces costs throughout the supply chain for handling, storage and transport. The present study examined the wood pelletizing process carried out using woody biomass derived from trees cultivated as SRF poplar plantations. In the production process, both whole plants and stems at the third and sixth year of vegetation were utilized as raw material. The quality of the pellets made with the 6-year-old poplar trees is better than those made with the 3-year-old trees, in terms of bulk density, length and ash content. Furthermore, the use of the wood fractions, namely branches, in the production process would seem to influence the physical parameters more than the energetic ones., Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 299-302

Time-lapse optical microscopy datasets from living cells can potentially afford an enormous amount of quantitative information on the relevant structural and dynamic properties of sub-cellular organelles/ structures, provided that both the spatial and temporal dimensions are properly sampled during the experiment. Here we provide exemplary live-cell, time-lapse confocal imaging datasets corresponding to three sub-cellular structures of the endo-lysosomal pathway, i.e. early endosomes, late endosomes and lysosomes, along with detailed guidelines to produce analogous experiments. Validation of the datasets is conducted by means of established analytical tools to extract the structural and dynamic properties at the sub-cellular scale, such as Single Particle Tracking (SPT) and imaging derived Mean Square Displacement (iMSD) analyses. In our aim, the present work would help other researchers in the field to reuse the provided datasets for their own scopes, and to combine their creative approaches/analyses to similar acquisitions.

Despite the growing interest for hemp, the mechanical harvesting remains a bottleneck for the diffusion of the crop. The separation of the different fractions (fibres, shivs, seeds) is a crucial aspect for obtaining products complying with the requirements of the processors/end users. Owed to their different physical properties and chemical composition, bast and hurd fibres are suitable for a wide range of industrial applications including bio-composites, construction materials, textiles, insulation, bedding, paper production, ropes and twines and many others. For building a sustainable supply chain the separation of the different fractions should be carried out directly in the field thus optimizing the recovery of single fraction. The wheat combines equipped with specific devices can be used without problems for seeds, while the collection of the fiber for textile requires special care to safeguard the integrity of the fiber length. When the target is the fiber for non-textile industrial purposes, e.g. material for filling or insulation the harvesting may be carried out following less specific strategies. Of course, the winning strategies has to foresee the containment of the cost perhaps using available solutions. The work presents a study conducted with forage harvesters for assessing their suitability for the collection of the hemp field straight retting with interesting results in terms of operating (2 ha h-1) and dimensional classes of cutting shivs. No clogging occurred during the test and the results showed a good percentage of separation (46%) from bast fibres to core material (Hurds) directly to exit of pneumatic transport system of the self-propelled forage harvest., Proceedings of the 25th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 12-15 June 2017, Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 294-297

The storage of cereal and other biomass in horizontal plastic bags is an innovative system for many European countries. Silo-bags are a good and well-known solution for dry grain storage but also an interesting solution for crop storage aiming at energy production. Inside the bags, preservation is attained without using thermal or insecticide treatments. In Italy, the proliferation of biogas energy plants has been very fast and, in few years, the number of plants has increased from ten to nearly nine hundred and the number is continuously increasing. Despite the new incentivized Italian mechanism allows the use of by-product, the silage still remains a preferred storage system for fresh biomass. Different commercial solutions are only available for loading grain and fresh matter, but the main problems concern the unloading of fresh matter, because physical aspects such as adhesion and plasticity of the stored product are an obstacle for spreading the silo-bag storage. The paper describes the developed and first test of extractor machine for wet biomass from silobag. The prototype was equipped with a system able to crumble and convey the biomass on a ground pile or a trailer/ truck and a device for the recovery of the empty bag., Proceedings of the 25th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 12-15 June 2017, Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 289-293

In Sicily fresh plants have for years been replacing the once popular cold-stored ones. Good early cropping is the aim of all strawberry growers in the island s Marsala district. The present trial tested the response of the new strawberry cultivars Sabrosa and Florida Fortuna using fresh plug and bare-root plants. Florida Fortuna plug-plants turned out to be the most promising type as a cash crop in delivering extra early ripening.

The Sicilian strawberry area differs from other Italian strawberry areas for its high earliness with productions that start in November-December. The earliness due to the very low plant winter chilling requirement is a very important characteristic to define the variety adaptability to this environment. Through the "Liste varietali Fragola" project funded by MiPAAF, many new varieties and advanced selections are evaluated annually in Sicily. Here, at the moment, the main variety is Florida Fortuna, followed by Candonga ® Sabrosa and Naiad ® CIVL35. Florida Fortuna, released in Florida, showed to be very interesting especially for its outstanding earliness, a high yield and good fruit quality traits, but it is quite susceptible to biotic and abiotic factors that may affect the survival of plants. The study was carried out in 2011-'12 at the experimental fields located in Marsala (TP). The cultural technique adopted was the typical Sicilian one. The performance of 7 new varieties and 4 selections are here described. Three of these selections were obtained by the Sicilian breeding program - carried out by the S.Ag.A Department and coordinated by CRA-FRF. Florida Fortuna confirmed to be the earliest and productive variety. Sabrina, coming from Spain, provided the firmest fruits with the highest total soluble solid content, while the Italian Rania produced the biggest fruits. The following selections are at the final stage of evaluation and they may be released in the near future: PA 260.3 showed to be early and to produce firm and sweet medium-small fruits. PA 20, which provided the yield as Florida Fortuna, has an early ripening and its fruits are firm with an high content of total soluble solids. PA 3 and Pir 2 stood out for high firmness, sweetness and very bright red-orange fruit colour.