Agrofood Research Hub
Research team:
Prof. Luigi Mariani
Dr. Isabella Ghiglieno
SUSTAINABLE CROP PRODUCTION
The sustainable crop production platform adopts a systemic and innovative approach to study herbaceous and tree crops. This is achieved through multidisciplinary studies and applying Agriculture 4.0 technologies as precision farming and interconnected agriculture.
The aim of the platform is to develop sustainable management strategies to be implemented in crop production systems. The multidisciplinary assessment of sustainability and the identification of strategies able to implement different technologies in an integrated manner allow to support business planning and optimize the cultivation techniques of different herbaceous and tree crops.
RESEARCH TOPICS
Agriculture 4.0: this represents the integrated application of innovative technologies, such as sensors, remote and proximal sensing, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics and Blockchain to support agricultural companies. The aim is to provide sustainable models for crops management, rationalizing the use of production inputs and reducing consumption and impacts.
Environmental footprints: Environmental, Carbon and Water footprint and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are calculated by estimating the impacts arising from different production systems comparing diversified management strategies. This allows to identify the phases of production chain that have the greatest impact and to direct companies and territories towards more rational and sustainable management models.
Agriculture in urban environment: the relationship between the urban and the rural environments is strengthened creating connections through the adoption of new territorial approaches and the introduction of sustainable food systems in the urban environment. The aim is to stimulate relationship between countryside and cities to reconnect production and consumption, in a renewed conception.
TOOLS
Tools for calculating environmental impacts: these tools are applied to estimate impacts into different compartments (air, water, soil) considering the level of single product, company or territory. This allows to monitor the level of sustainability of the various contexts and simulate alternative scenarios that can reduce these impacts and make agricultural production more sustainable.
Models applied to crop production: these models allow to calculate the yields of crops, the phenology and the quality of the agro-food products and the different agricultural sectors based on diversified scenarios. The aim is to provide the different production contexts with indications on future dynamics and to set long-term strategies that respond to the actual needs compared to the expected changes.
Advanced Decision Support Systems (ADSS): the development of these advanced decision support systems allows to integrate different methods of data analysis obtained from different areas of research and monitoring. The storage of data, the development of models and the integration between them allow to generate tools to support farms providing guidance to assist farmers in making appropriate decisions and achieve greater profits.
PROJECTS AND PARTENRSHIPS
Progetto BIOMASS HUB “BIOMetAno per una Società Sostenibile: sviluppo di un Laboratorio Italiano di Circular Economy dal biometano”
Progetto “Biodiversità del paesaggio viticolo della Franciacorta” in collaborazione con il Consorzio per la tutela del Franciacorta
Progetto “Studio delle comunità vegetali dell’agroecosistema vigneti attraverso tecniche di remote Sensing” in collaborazione con l’Azienda Ricci Curbastro
Progetto Faresubio, Fertilità, Ambiente, Reddito attraverso Suolo e Biodiversità (F.A.Re.Su.BIO) Operazione 16.1.01 “Gruppi Operativi PEI” del Programma di Sviluppo Rurale 2014 – 2020 della Regione Lombardia. https://www.faresubio.it/
PUBLICATIONS
I Ghiglieno, F Mattivi, G Cola, D Trionfini, D Perenzoni… - OENO One, 2020 - oeno-one.eu
Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of leaf removal and bunch shading on the analytical composition of Pinot noir and Chardonnay (Vitis vinifera L.) grapes suitable for making premium sparkling wine. Method and results: Total bunch defoliation (TD) and different treatments using shading nets (TD1L, TD2L and ND1L) were evaluated in comparison with a test with no defoliation and shading (ND) over three seasons in the southern part of Franciacorta, one of the most famous Italian sparkling wine regions …
I Ghiglieno, A Simonetto, G Sperandio, M Ventura… - Sustainability, 2021 - mdpi.com
The importance of soil biodiversity and soil-based ecosystem services in the context of viticulture has recently been emphasized. Over 85% of soil fauna species richness is represented by edaphic arthropod communities. Edaphic arthropod responses to soil characteristics and management practices can be considered as good bioindicators of soil quality. Here, 168 soil samples that were collected from 2014 to 2019 in several vineyards of different Italian wine-growing areas were analyzed to explore how arthropod communities …
I Ghiglieno, A Simonetto, F Orlando, P Donna, M Tonni… - Agronomy, 2020 - mdpi.com
Soil represents an important pool of biodiversity, hosting about a quarter of the living species on our planet. This soil richness has led to increasing interest in the structural and functional characteristics of its biodiversity. Studies of arthropod responses, in terms of abundance and taxon richness, have increased in relation to their ecological value as bioindicators of environmental change. This research was carried out over the 2014–2018 period with the aim to better understand arthropod taxa responses in vineyard soils in Franciacorta …
I Ghiglieno, A Simonetto, P Donna, M Tonni, L Valenti… - Agronomy, 2019 - mdpi.com
Biodiversity is an increasingly important aspect of wine production. The assessment of agro- ecosystem biodiversity is highly complex due to the heterogeneity of the elements involved in the evaluation. For this reason, wine companies have expressed a need for a decision support system (DSS) capable of dealing with this complexity, integrating assessments referring to the whole production system within a single tool. In this study a DSS developed for wine sector biodiversity management assessment is introduced. The DSS, called …
I Ghiglieno, A Simonetto, E Lipreri… - BIO Web of …, 2022 - bio-conferences.org
Vineyard is a multifunctional ecosystem associated to a multitude of environmental benefits and ecosystem services. Despite the increased research efforts on the analysis of biodiversity patterns and ecosystem services in vineyard, the lack of approaches to multifunctionality suggests to develop integrated approaches allowing to manage the complexity of vineyard landscape. The present study introduces an innovative methodology aimed at developing a unitary framework able to describe vineyard ecosystems biodiversity …
G Gilioli, F Orlando, I Ghiglieno, G Sperandio… - Equilibri, 2020 - rivisteweb.it
Medicina e Chirurgia dell’Università di Brescia e coordinatore di Agrofood Lab. Si occupa di analisi e valutazione dei sistemi agricoli sostenibili e dei rischi nella filiera agroalimentare. …
Lo studio della biodiversità degli artropodi del suolo: metodi tradizionali e prospettive future
I Ghiglieno, A Simonetto, F Gatti, G Sperandio, G Gilioli - ENTOMATA - researchgate.net
Le feci degli Artropodi contribuiscono all'aggregazione delle particelle e alla formazione dell'humus, importanti per il mantenimento della fertilità del terreno e per la sua capacità di immagazzinare nutrienti. Molti Artropodi edafici agiscono come predatori e contribuiscono quindi alla regolazione delle popolazioni di microrganismi implicati nella decomposizione della sostanza organica morta. Gli Artropodi possono, infine, svolgere anche un ruolo importante nella disseminazione del popolamento di funghi e batteri.