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Agro-phenological observation is a fundamental activity to obtain a significant and useful description of the seasonal development of crops, which is driven by environmental variables, among which temperature plays a primary role. The aim of this paper is to study the relation between thermal resources and phenological development in the agrophenological station of Cadriano (Bologna) on winter wheat, barley, maize and sorghum. This was achieved a) analysing eleven years (2003-2012) of phenological observations, expressed using the BBCH scale, and b) developing a thermal model based on Normal Heat Hours for phenological development of the four crops in Cadriano. Once the thermal model was calibrated it was used to evaluate the variability of thermal resources on a long time series (1984- 2013) recorded in the same site. The statistical analysis on the observed phenological data shows high stability, apart from the first stages, until the tillering of the winter crops. The phenological model evidences a satisfactory performance, in particular for summer crops, and a good correlation between phenology and thermal resources accumulation. Finally, the long time series analysis evidences an increase in time of thermal resources availability.

One of the main aspects of the development of a meteorological model is the verification its reliability. It allows to know the behaviour of the model in different weather situations and to assess its performances in terms of both average and extremes. The verification helps to figure out how to tune the model in order to have better results. The quantitative prediction of precipitation and relative humidity (related to the onset of fungal pathogens and other diseases) has a fundamental role in agriculture and therefore its verification becomes particularly relevant. Aim of this study was to compare daily precipitation, relative humidity, and temperature data forecasted by the model at 2, 3, 4,... 7 days, for the year 2015, with data from the agrometeorological station of the University of Bologna in Cadriano (BO). The forecast data were compared with measurements collected at the station. Statistical indexes useful for assessing the model performances showed a good performance for the temperatures, quite good for precipitation and relative humidity.

Studio di impatto ambientale di una stazione di stoccaggio ed erogazione di metano in Abruzzo, tramite biomonitoraggio lichenico e misure dirette di concentrazione di sostanze chimiche. La qualità ambientale è stata valutata attraverso due diverse tipologie di monitoraggio: un metodo diretto che ha previsto la misura della concentrazione di ozono, azoto e isoprene in atmosfera e uno indiretto dato da un biomonitoraggio lichenico

Runoff is one of the major causes of soil loss in the hilly areas of Italy. It is possible to successfully prevent the phenomenon by an adequate drainage of water in the agricultural areas, via the modelling of soil surface, and choosing the proper tillage and crop. The best soil management is selected by a deep knowledge of the chemical and physical properties of the soil, of the topography and the land use. In order to study the problem in detail, a field experiment was carried out in the hillside next to Bologna, Italy (Ozzano dell’Emilia, 44°24'N, 11°28' E, 185 m a.s.l.) for a 17-year-long period (1992-2009). In this experiment the effect on runoff of field crops (wheat, sorghum, rye-grass and alfalfa) and orchard (cherry trees), with different slopes and land modelling was evaluated. The crops were cultivated with various field modelling, in 5 plots 1000 m2 large . The soil was sandy-loam and the tillage management was performed as in the common practice of the area. Precipitation was continuously measured thanks to a meteorological station next to the area and each plot was equipped by runoff ditches and measurement gauges. The results show that, between the permanent crops, cherry trees was always more efficient than alfalfa in minimizing runoff, independently from slope and management of the alfalfa. As an average of the entire period, the number of runoff events was the highest in the plots diagonally cultivated and was the lowest in the plot cultivated following the contour lines. The up-and-down modelling gave good results in controlling the runoff. A significant relationship was evidenced between the total amount of rainfall during the farming year and the mean number of runoff events, irrespectively of the crop.

La carpocapsa (Cydia pomonella L.) è la specie dannosa più temuta per le pomacee nel mondo e in Emilia-Romagna ipoteca da sola circa il 70% degli interventi insetticidi. La difesa è tuttora sostanzialmente sostenuta da prodotti chimici di sintesi e anche per questo il ricorso ad altre e differenti tecniche di contenimento incontra molto interesse scientifico e pratico. Il virus della granulosi (CpGV) e l’impiego dei feromoni per la “confusione sessuale” sono attualmente applicabili , ma altre si sono affacciate di recente. In particolare la difesa “meccanica”, con l’adozione di rete anti-insetto con maglie più strette rispetto a quelle antigrandine. Numerosi lavori hanno messo in evidenza una sostanziale diminuzione di danni da lepidotteri (di carpocapsa in particolare) ai frutti su filari coperti da rete sia singolarmente (monofilare) sia su più filari simultaneamente (monoblocco), mentre per altre specie di fitofagi di vari Ordini la situazione potrebbe peggiorare. In pratica le reti sembrano interferire sulle aggressioni delle specie dannose sia direttamente, impedendone il contatto, sia in modo indiretto, ostacolandone lo sviluppo attraverso modalità non ancora ben conosciute. In sostanza dovrebbero essere condotte misurazioni di campo con l’obiettivo di focalizzare in quale direzione approfondire le indagini per la carpocapsa alla ricerca delle ragioni alle quali attribuire, anche solo in parte, gli esiti osservati in campo.

Codling moth (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) is the most severe universal pest of apple and pear. In all commercial orchards the fruit have to be protected until the harvest. The insecticides are the main control tool and in Emilia-Romagna (Italy) the number of treatments varies from 8 to 12 per year. The current available insecticides are more specific, less toxic to humans and beneficial than earlier ones, but an effective biological control has not been possible yet, so the main control alternatives are mostly based on PMD (Pheromone Mating Disruption) and CpGV (Cydia pomonella) Granulosis Virus) use, although the efficacy depends on the population level, number of generation and treated surface. The use of hail-nets recently proposed seems to give very interesting results against C. pomonella as injured fruits, so some trials were carried out to investigate the reason of this change in codling moth, and other species frequently presents on pome fruits orchards, behaviour.

Il ruscellamento superficiale è una delle principali cause di perdita di suolo nei terreni in pendio. Ruscellamento ed erosione sono processi naturali che possono essere fortemente accelerati nei terreni coltivati. La pendenza, la copertura vegetale e la direzione di lavorazione (che dipende dalla sistemazione agronomica) sono, insieme all’andamento meteorologico, tra i fattori più rilevanti di questi processi (Ampofo et al., 2002; Zhang & Garbrecht, 2002). Scopo di questo studio è stato verificare la relazione tra pioggia e ruscellamento e le caratteristiche del ruscellamento in sei parcelle di diversa sistemazione agronomica e pendenza, coltivate con specie erbacee annuali e poliennali ed arboree. Si tratta di una prova di lunga durata che ha previsto la raccolta e l’elaborazione di quasi un ventennio di dati (1992-2010).