Considering future tasks in soil health, resources management and environmental protection, farme... more Considering future tasks in soil health, resources management and environmental protection, farmers are challenged to develop sustainable strategies for managing soil and land resources. In this study, the long-term sustainability of two fertilization strategies, - current, with synthetic fertilizers (SYN) vs conservative, with organic sources of nitrogen (organic amendments plus green manure with a legume - CONS) - was assessed in a processing tomato/durum wheat rotation. The EPIC model was used, validated with field data then run to simulate the management for 30 years under 3 current and future climates. Yield, soil organic carbon (SOC) stock change, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), water use efficiency (WUE) and nitrate leaching were considered as sustainability indicators. Under all the future climate scenarios, tomato yield increased in CONS, remaining almost stable in SYN. Wheat yield increased both in CONS and SYN, but the average yield in CONS was considerably lower than in S...
In this paper the results of a study of soil hydraulic properties and plant coverage of a landfil... more In this paper the results of a study of soil hydraulic properties and plant coverage of a landfill located in Piacenza (Po Valley, Italy) are presented, together with the attempt to relate the hydraulic properties in relation with plant coverage. The measured soil water retention curve was first compared with the output of pedotransfer functions taken from the literature and then compared with the output of the same pedotransfer functions applied to a reference soil. The landfill plant coverage was also studied. The relationship between soil hydraulic properties and plant coverage showed that the landfill soils have a low water content available for plants. The soils' low water content, together with a lack of depth and a compacted structure, justifies the presence of a nitrophilous, disturbed-soil vegetation type, dominated by ephemeral annual species (therophytes).
One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (... more One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (LCs)-suitable combinations of morphology, lithology and land use-representing a fundamental step in the definition of soil typological units. LCs are traditionally used by pedologists to correlate different soils and to identify the relationships between soil and geography. The recognition of the various soil characteristics for LCs definition is usually performed considering a number of classes for each feature (e.g. slope classes), defined a priori at a national scale. Such classes tend by nature to generalize and to flatten the actual local variability. Moreover, when dealing with large areas, taking into account a very fragmented layout is very difficult. To reduce subjectivity in interpretation, the choice of features defining soil associated LCs should be performed in an automatic or semi-automatic way. Digital Soil Mapping techniques can help to overcome these limits. In this work we propose a procedure to define the soil LCs for the territory of Latium administrative region (Central Italy), starting from a dataset of about 1500 fully described and analysed soil profiles and associated land surface parameters. The main soil diagnostic characteristics-depth, internal drainage, topsoil and subsoil texture, gravel, organic carbon content, cation exchange capacity, calcium carbonate content-were used, together with auxiliary information derived from existing thematic maps (geology, land use, pedoclimate), and from Digital Elevation Model (geomorphometric parameters). Some indices derived from remotely sensed high resolution images were also introduced to improve the estimate in areas with uniform land characteristics (i.e. flat alluvial valleys and coastal plains). Classes for the measured characteristics were defined based on their frequency distribution and of the WRB classification diagnostic thresholds. The covariates were chosen by an ANOVA, and a Principal Component Analysis was performed to avoid multicollinearity effects. Resulting principal components were used as predictors in a Multinomial logistic regression to build a raster layer for each considered soil characteristic. From all these layers, a final map of LCs was derived by means of a clustering operation. The final map represents the basis to map Soil Typological Units for the whole Latium region.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Apr 13, 2023
Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is ... more Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is mainly used for power generation, irrigation in agriculture, biodiversity conservation, tourism, recreation, and human and livestock consumption. Nevertheless, crucial information on the total number of water bodies and their geometrical characteristics and spatial distribution patterns are still missing. Thus, our main goal was to characterize the Extremenian water bodies geometrically and spatially through different statistical techniques such as kernel density, Moran's index, the Getis-Ord Gi*, and principal component analysis (PCA). Firstly, all existing hydrological information was gathered, and using aerial aircraft imagery and satellite images, each water body (WB) was then carefully collected, checked, and corrected. We have inventoried 100,614 WBs (mean density: 2.45 WB km 2), irregularly distributed on the territory. WBs with an area < 0.01 km 2 (100 ha) represent 64.5% of the total. A multivariate statistical study was conducted, showing that livestock, aridity of the climate, and topography are the main factors controlling the density of water bodies (WBs) in this area. It can be concluded that monitoring of small bodies is crucial to understand their spatial distribution, since they are spread over areas in which extensive farming and commercial crops such as tobacco strongly influence the way of living of many families.
The work deals with the qualitative modifications of a Calcaric fluvisol after irrigation with fr... more The work deals with the qualitative modifications of a Calcaric fluvisol after irrigation with fresh water and depurated pig-slurry effluents (aerobic and anaerobic treatment, and phytodepuration with a reed bed system). The accumulation of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and heavy metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) as total and as bio-available forms in the soil was evaluated, together with soil aggregate stability index, hydraulic conductivity of the saturated soil and the in situ infiltration rate. The experimental field was divided into three plots, and cultivated with silage maize for three years (2003-2005). Results showed that the irrigation with depurated and phytodepurated effluents produced significant changes in the soil chemical properties controlling soil permeability, and influenced the bio-available fraction of heavy metals.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Aug 4, 2022
The intensification of agricultural systems has caused a noticeable impact on agro-ecosystem serv... more The intensification of agricultural systems has caused a noticeable impact on agro-ecosystem services. Thus, the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices such as crop diversification and reduction of external inputs represent an alternative strategy to minimize the impacts of intensive agricultural systems to the environment. This study aimed at evaluating the effects of crop rotation, conservation tillage, and low-input strategies on soil quality and farming performance using a set of 7 indicators based on a fuzzy logic approach. Data were collected from three Mediterranean long-term field experiments (LTEs) mostly oriented on cereal-based and vegetables cropping systems, located in Spain and Italy. The selected agro-environmental indicators clearly discriminated both from a geographical point of view and between monoculture and diversification, showing their suitability for the evaluation of diversified cropping systems. Such indicators highlighted that implementing crop diversification and reducing soil disturbance and chemical inputs enhanced soil quality. In this context, the most significant effects of diversified cropping strategies were the increase of crucial variables such as soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (P av), and bulk density (BD) maintaining a stability of yields in all the three LTEs. These results provide strong evidence for the benefits of crop diversification in Mediterranean areas, highlighting that diversification represents a very promising strategy for more sustainable land management. Simple and composite indicators calculated using fuzzy method can be proposed as tool to assess the effects of diversification strategies on cropping systems performance. This approach can be used to define local solutions to help the redesign of cropping system through crop diversification transition across Europe.
Parole chiave: Condizionalità; sviluppo rurale; Standard 3.1; lavorazioni in tempera; competitivi... more Parole chiave: Condizionalità; sviluppo rurale; Standard 3.1; lavorazioni in tempera; competitività. Lavoro svolto nell'ambito del Progetto MO.NA.CO. (Rete di monitoraggio nazionale dell'efficacia ambientale della condizionalità e del differenziale di competitività da essa indotto a carico delle imprese agricole) finanziato dal Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali (MiPAAF) nell'ambito del Programma Rete Rurale Nazionale nel contesto dell'Azione 1.2.2 "Laboratori interregionali per lo sviluppo" del Programma Operativo denominato "Rete Rurale Nazionale 2007-2013", Coord. Paolo Bazzoffi. Contributi: CREA-RPS: Rosa Francaviglia, stesura testo, coordinatore UO, elaborazione dati. Ulderico Neri, allestimento prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo e differenziale competitività, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. Rosario Napoli, rilievi di campo analisi fisico-idrologiche. Margherita Falcucci, analisi parametri chimici suolo e vegetali. Bruno Pennelli, rilievi di campo e analisi fisico-idrologiche. Giampiero Simonetti, allestimento prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo e differenziale competitività. Melania Migliore, Chiara Piccini, analisi fisico-idrologiche. CREA-AAM. Antonio Melchiorre Carroni, coordinatore UO. Paola Ruda, Mauro Salis, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati, progettazione e allestimento dispositivo sperimentale, conduzione agronomica, rilievi di campo. CREA-ABP. Paolo Bazzoffi, coordinatore del progetto MONACO, sviluppo metodologia innovativa PAP-GIS rugosità, rilievi in campo, stesura del testo, rilievi GPS, elaborazioni GIS, rilievi differenziale competitività. Silvia Carnevale, rilievi in campo e in laboratorio, rilievi differenziale competitività. Andrea Rocchini, rilievi in campo e in laboratorio, rilievi GPS, rilievi differenziale competitività. CREA-CER. Antonio Troccoli, Mario Russo, allestimento delle prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. CREA-FLC. Marisanna Speroni, coordinatore UO. Lamberto Borrelli, Giovanni Cabassi, allestimento delle prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. CREA-SCA. Domenico Ventrella, coordinatore UO, stesu-ra testo ed elaborazione dati, progettazione e allestimento dispositivo sperimentale. Vittorio Alessandro Vonella, allestimento dispositivo sperimentale, conduzione agronomica, rilievi di campo. Luisa Giglio, rilievi di campo, analisi fisico-idrologiche, elaborazione dati. Francesco Fornaro, rilievi di campo, analisi fisico-idrologiche, elaborazione e georeferenziazione dati. Mirko Castellini, analisi fisico-idrologiche, elaborazione dati. Francesca Modugno, analisi fisico-idrologiche. CREA-SSC. Francesco Montemurro, coordinatore UO, allestimento delle prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo, stesura testo. Angelo Fiore, allestimento prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo. Mariangela Diacono, allestimento prove sperimentali, stesura testo. Veneto Agricoltura. Lorenzo Furlan, coordinatore UO. Francesca Chiarini, allestimento prove sperimentali, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. Michele Colauzzi, preparazione protocolli sperimentali, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. Antonio Barbieri, allestimento prove, coordinamento operazioni colturali. Francesco Fagotto, rilievi di campo, stesura relazioni. CREA
Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is ... more Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is mainly used for power generation, irrigation in agriculture, biodiversity conservation, tourism, recreation, and human and livestock consumption. Nevertheless, crucial information on the total number of water bodies and their geometrical characteristics and spatial distribution patterns are still missing. Thus, our main goal was to characterize the Extremenian water bodies geometrically and spatially through different statistical techniques such as kernel density, Moran’s index, the Getis-Ord Gi*, and principal component analysis (PCA). Firstly, all existing hydrological information was gathered, and using aerial aircraft imagery and satellite images, each water body (WB) was then carefully collected, checked, and corrected. We have inventoried 100,614 WBs (mean density: 2.45 WB km2), irregularly distributed on the territory. WBs with an area < 0.01 km2 (100 ha) represent 64.5% of the...
Spatialization of statistical information is often intended as the distribution of statistical da... more Spatialization of statistical information is often intended as the distribution of statistical data within administrative areas, represented as homogeneous. In this way, the spatial difference between statistical data often cannot be revealed, because of the low spatial resolution. Given the availability of point georeferenced data, the application of geostatistical interpolation methods allows to produce a spatial representation of statistical information more adherent to the reality, and not necessarily linked to the administrative boundaries. Maps obtained with these techniques not only enhance the dissemination of statistical information at territorial level, but also represent a valuable tool for policy makers. In this paper the results of a study performed on economic data at NUTS3 level (Province) in Italy are presented. Using GIS technology, it is possible to explore the relationship between the distribution of statistical data and some geographical features in the same region.
The agriculture in Biskra, southeastern Algeria, is based on traditional practices and characteri... more The agriculture in Biskra, southeastern Algeria, is based on traditional practices and characterized by small irrigated fields. In the last decades, the increasing demand in water as well as the scarcity of rainfall has forced many farmers to use groundwater of low quality to maintain the profitability of their crops. Unfortunately, this practice seems to be the main harmful factor for soil quality in the region since it is responsible for the salinization of the irrigated areas. Aiming to assess the impact of this phenomenon, the soils of the irrigated perimeter of El Ghrous—a representative rural community located in the west of Biskra—have been analyzed. A set of 82 soil samples was collected from top and subsoil (0–15 and 15–35 cm respectively), on which the following physicochemical analyzes were performed: Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , K + , Na + , Cl − , SO 4 2− , HCO 3 − , NO 3 − , pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and sodium adsorption ratio. A Principal Component Analysis was performed to individuate the geochemical processes that influenced significantly the evolution of soil salinity and its pathways. The results showed a calcium sulfate (CaSO 4 ) facies with a high risk of salinity and a low to medium risk of alkalinity. The calcite residual alkalinity and generalized residual alkalinity decreased as the solutions became more concentrated. Most of the samples were oversaturated in carbonate minerals (aragonite, calcite, and dolomite) and undersaturated in evaporitic minerals (anhydrite, gypsum, and halite). Finally, two multiple linear regressions (using cations and anions as independent variables) have been proposed to quantify soil salinity. These equations, with an accuracy of 85 %, can represent a time and money-saving tool for managers and farmers to estimate the EC, in comparison to the traditional estimation methods.
Soils of semi-arid climates undergo organic carbon loss, which in turn affects their agricultural... more Soils of semi-arid climates undergo organic carbon loss, which in turn affects their agricultural potential. Geostatistics is often used as an interpolation tool to thoroughly describe SOC spatial distribution. To focus on soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion, the Tiffech watershed (Northeast of Algeria), an economically important agricultural area, was chosen due to intensive agricultural practices, decline of forests and occurrence of erosion. The present study aimed to predict the spatial variation of SOC in Tiffech watershed using geostatistics and a Geographical Information System (GIS) software, comparing the performance of two geostatistical methods-Ordinary Kriging (OK) and Regression Kriging (RK)-also assessing the role of auxiliary variables in improving the prediction accuracy and highlighting the role of land cover in SOC storage. The SOC content in Tiffech soils was determined on 42 soil samples from the surface layer (0-10 cm) collected all over the study area and the results were used to estimate SOC density in non-sampled locations. The prediction efficiency of the two methods was evaluated by calculating the Mean Error (ME), the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the Root Mean Square Standardized Error (RMSSE). The interpolation results showed that SOC distribution in the study area was correlated to the topography, the clay index, and general landscape features. SOC content increased northwards in the area, ranging from 0.53 to 6.9 kg•m −2 in relation to land use. As expected, maps figured a good conservation status of SOC stocks in areas with dense vegetation; conversely poor SOC contents were estimated where land degradation factors take place. Cross-validation results showed an outperformance in the interpolation accuracy of RK on OK after the introduction of environmental variables, with an RMSE value of 0.02 versus 0.81. This suggests a higher efficiency of RK in predicting SOC content across the Tiffech area in comparison with OK, confirming that introducing some auxiliary data correlated to the target variable in SOC estimation, considerably improved the interpolation accuracy. 2017). Organic carbon sequestration in soils has gained growing attention as a means to reduce atmospheric CO 2 and, in perspective, global warming (Lal, 1999; Pan et al., 2003; Johnson et al., 2006). Previous studies, e.g.Tondoh et al. (2016), showed that sound land management of agricultural soils in semi-arid climate has a potential for organic carbon sequestration. The SOC originates from plant residues and organic fertilizers, being SOC stocks depending on soil decomposition rate, which in turn is driven by microorganisms and environmental factors such as land use, soil type
One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (... more One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (LCs)-suitable combinations of morphology, lithology and land use-representing a fundamental step in the definition of soil typological units. LCs are traditionally used by pedologists to correlate different soils and to identify the relationships between soil and geography. The recognition of the various soil characteristics for LCs definition is usually performed considering a number of classes for each feature (e.g. slope classes), defined a priori at a national scale. Such classes tend by nature to generalize and to flatten the actual local variability. Moreover, when dealing with large areas, taking into account a very fragmented layout is very difficult. To reduce subjectivity in interpretation, the choice of features defining soil associated LCs should be performed in an automatic or semi-automatic way. Digital Soil Mapping techniques can help to overcome these limits. In this work we propose a procedure to define the soil LCs for the territory of Latium administrative region (Central Italy), starting from a dataset of about 1500 fully described and analysed soil profiles and associated land surface parameters. The main soil diagnostic characteristics-depth, internal drainage, topsoil and subsoil texture, gravel, organic carbon content, cation exchange capacity, calcium carbonate content-were used, together with auxiliary information derived from existing thematic maps (geology, land use, pedoclimate), and from Digital Elevation Model (geomorphometric parameters). Some indices derived from remotely sensed high resolution images were also introduced to improve the estimate in areas with uniform land characteristics (i.e. flat alluvial valleys and coastal plains). Classes for the measured characteristics were defined based on their frequency distribution and of the WRB classification diagnostic thresholds. The covariates were chosen by an ANOVA, and a Principal Component Analysis was performed to avoid multicollinearity effects. Resulting principal components were used as predictors in a Multinomial logistic regression to build a raster layer for each considered soil characteristic. From all these layers, a final map of LCs was derived by means of a clustering operation. The final map represents the basis to map Soil Typological Units for the whole Latium region.
Considering future tasks in soil health, resources management and environmental protection, farme... more Considering future tasks in soil health, resources management and environmental protection, farmers are challenged to develop sustainable strategies for managing soil and land resources. In this study, the long-term sustainability of two fertilization strategies, - current, with synthetic fertilizers (SYN) vs conservative, with organic sources of nitrogen (organic amendments plus green manure with a legume - CONS) - was assessed in a processing tomato/durum wheat rotation. The EPIC model was used, validated with field data then run to simulate the management for 30 years under 3 current and future climates. Yield, soil organic carbon (SOC) stock change, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), water use efficiency (WUE) and nitrate leaching were considered as sustainability indicators. Under all the future climate scenarios, tomato yield increased in CONS, remaining almost stable in SYN. Wheat yield increased both in CONS and SYN, but the average yield in CONS was considerably lower than in S...
In this paper the results of a study of soil hydraulic properties and plant coverage of a landfil... more In this paper the results of a study of soil hydraulic properties and plant coverage of a landfill located in Piacenza (Po Valley, Italy) are presented, together with the attempt to relate the hydraulic properties in relation with plant coverage. The measured soil water retention curve was first compared with the output of pedotransfer functions taken from the literature and then compared with the output of the same pedotransfer functions applied to a reference soil. The landfill plant coverage was also studied. The relationship between soil hydraulic properties and plant coverage showed that the landfill soils have a low water content available for plants. The soils' low water content, together with a lack of depth and a compacted structure, justifies the presence of a nitrophilous, disturbed-soil vegetation type, dominated by ephemeral annual species (therophytes).
One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (... more One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (LCs)-suitable combinations of morphology, lithology and land use-representing a fundamental step in the definition of soil typological units. LCs are traditionally used by pedologists to correlate different soils and to identify the relationships between soil and geography. The recognition of the various soil characteristics for LCs definition is usually performed considering a number of classes for each feature (e.g. slope classes), defined a priori at a national scale. Such classes tend by nature to generalize and to flatten the actual local variability. Moreover, when dealing with large areas, taking into account a very fragmented layout is very difficult. To reduce subjectivity in interpretation, the choice of features defining soil associated LCs should be performed in an automatic or semi-automatic way. Digital Soil Mapping techniques can help to overcome these limits. In this work we propose a procedure to define the soil LCs for the territory of Latium administrative region (Central Italy), starting from a dataset of about 1500 fully described and analysed soil profiles and associated land surface parameters. The main soil diagnostic characteristics-depth, internal drainage, topsoil and subsoil texture, gravel, organic carbon content, cation exchange capacity, calcium carbonate content-were used, together with auxiliary information derived from existing thematic maps (geology, land use, pedoclimate), and from Digital Elevation Model (geomorphometric parameters). Some indices derived from remotely sensed high resolution images were also introduced to improve the estimate in areas with uniform land characteristics (i.e. flat alluvial valleys and coastal plains). Classes for the measured characteristics were defined based on their frequency distribution and of the WRB classification diagnostic thresholds. The covariates were chosen by an ANOVA, and a Principal Component Analysis was performed to avoid multicollinearity effects. Resulting principal components were used as predictors in a Multinomial logistic regression to build a raster layer for each considered soil characteristic. From all these layers, a final map of LCs was derived by means of a clustering operation. The final map represents the basis to map Soil Typological Units for the whole Latium region.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Apr 13, 2023
Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is ... more Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is mainly used for power generation, irrigation in agriculture, biodiversity conservation, tourism, recreation, and human and livestock consumption. Nevertheless, crucial information on the total number of water bodies and their geometrical characteristics and spatial distribution patterns are still missing. Thus, our main goal was to characterize the Extremenian water bodies geometrically and spatially through different statistical techniques such as kernel density, Moran's index, the Getis-Ord Gi*, and principal component analysis (PCA). Firstly, all existing hydrological information was gathered, and using aerial aircraft imagery and satellite images, each water body (WB) was then carefully collected, checked, and corrected. We have inventoried 100,614 WBs (mean density: 2.45 WB km 2), irregularly distributed on the territory. WBs with an area < 0.01 km 2 (100 ha) represent 64.5% of the total. A multivariate statistical study was conducted, showing that livestock, aridity of the climate, and topography are the main factors controlling the density of water bodies (WBs) in this area. It can be concluded that monitoring of small bodies is crucial to understand their spatial distribution, since they are spread over areas in which extensive farming and commercial crops such as tobacco strongly influence the way of living of many families.
The work deals with the qualitative modifications of a Calcaric fluvisol after irrigation with fr... more The work deals with the qualitative modifications of a Calcaric fluvisol after irrigation with fresh water and depurated pig-slurry effluents (aerobic and anaerobic treatment, and phytodepuration with a reed bed system). The accumulation of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and heavy metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) as total and as bio-available forms in the soil was evaluated, together with soil aggregate stability index, hydraulic conductivity of the saturated soil and the in situ infiltration rate. The experimental field was divided into three plots, and cultivated with silage maize for three years (2003-2005). Results showed that the irrigation with depurated and phytodepurated effluents produced significant changes in the soil chemical properties controlling soil permeability, and influenced the bio-available fraction of heavy metals.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Aug 4, 2022
The intensification of agricultural systems has caused a noticeable impact on agro-ecosystem serv... more The intensification of agricultural systems has caused a noticeable impact on agro-ecosystem services. Thus, the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices such as crop diversification and reduction of external inputs represent an alternative strategy to minimize the impacts of intensive agricultural systems to the environment. This study aimed at evaluating the effects of crop rotation, conservation tillage, and low-input strategies on soil quality and farming performance using a set of 7 indicators based on a fuzzy logic approach. Data were collected from three Mediterranean long-term field experiments (LTEs) mostly oriented on cereal-based and vegetables cropping systems, located in Spain and Italy. The selected agro-environmental indicators clearly discriminated both from a geographical point of view and between monoculture and diversification, showing their suitability for the evaluation of diversified cropping systems. Such indicators highlighted that implementing crop diversification and reducing soil disturbance and chemical inputs enhanced soil quality. In this context, the most significant effects of diversified cropping strategies were the increase of crucial variables such as soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (P av), and bulk density (BD) maintaining a stability of yields in all the three LTEs. These results provide strong evidence for the benefits of crop diversification in Mediterranean areas, highlighting that diversification represents a very promising strategy for more sustainable land management. Simple and composite indicators calculated using fuzzy method can be proposed as tool to assess the effects of diversification strategies on cropping systems performance. This approach can be used to define local solutions to help the redesign of cropping system through crop diversification transition across Europe.
Parole chiave: Condizionalità; sviluppo rurale; Standard 3.1; lavorazioni in tempera; competitivi... more Parole chiave: Condizionalità; sviluppo rurale; Standard 3.1; lavorazioni in tempera; competitività. Lavoro svolto nell'ambito del Progetto MO.NA.CO. (Rete di monitoraggio nazionale dell'efficacia ambientale della condizionalità e del differenziale di competitività da essa indotto a carico delle imprese agricole) finanziato dal Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali (MiPAAF) nell'ambito del Programma Rete Rurale Nazionale nel contesto dell'Azione 1.2.2 "Laboratori interregionali per lo sviluppo" del Programma Operativo denominato "Rete Rurale Nazionale 2007-2013", Coord. Paolo Bazzoffi. Contributi: CREA-RPS: Rosa Francaviglia, stesura testo, coordinatore UO, elaborazione dati. Ulderico Neri, allestimento prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo e differenziale competitività, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. Rosario Napoli, rilievi di campo analisi fisico-idrologiche. Margherita Falcucci, analisi parametri chimici suolo e vegetali. Bruno Pennelli, rilievi di campo e analisi fisico-idrologiche. Giampiero Simonetti, allestimento prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo e differenziale competitività. Melania Migliore, Chiara Piccini, analisi fisico-idrologiche. CREA-AAM. Antonio Melchiorre Carroni, coordinatore UO. Paola Ruda, Mauro Salis, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati, progettazione e allestimento dispositivo sperimentale, conduzione agronomica, rilievi di campo. CREA-ABP. Paolo Bazzoffi, coordinatore del progetto MONACO, sviluppo metodologia innovativa PAP-GIS rugosità, rilievi in campo, stesura del testo, rilievi GPS, elaborazioni GIS, rilievi differenziale competitività. Silvia Carnevale, rilievi in campo e in laboratorio, rilievi differenziale competitività. Andrea Rocchini, rilievi in campo e in laboratorio, rilievi GPS, rilievi differenziale competitività. CREA-CER. Antonio Troccoli, Mario Russo, allestimento delle prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. CREA-FLC. Marisanna Speroni, coordinatore UO. Lamberto Borrelli, Giovanni Cabassi, allestimento delle prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. CREA-SCA. Domenico Ventrella, coordinatore UO, stesu-ra testo ed elaborazione dati, progettazione e allestimento dispositivo sperimentale. Vittorio Alessandro Vonella, allestimento dispositivo sperimentale, conduzione agronomica, rilievi di campo. Luisa Giglio, rilievi di campo, analisi fisico-idrologiche, elaborazione dati. Francesco Fornaro, rilievi di campo, analisi fisico-idrologiche, elaborazione e georeferenziazione dati. Mirko Castellini, analisi fisico-idrologiche, elaborazione dati. Francesca Modugno, analisi fisico-idrologiche. CREA-SSC. Francesco Montemurro, coordinatore UO, allestimento delle prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo, stesura testo. Angelo Fiore, allestimento prove sperimentali, rilievi di campo. Mariangela Diacono, allestimento prove sperimentali, stesura testo. Veneto Agricoltura. Lorenzo Furlan, coordinatore UO. Francesca Chiarini, allestimento prove sperimentali, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. Michele Colauzzi, preparazione protocolli sperimentali, stesura testo ed elaborazione dati. Antonio Barbieri, allestimento prove, coordinamento operazioni colturali. Francesco Fagotto, rilievi di campo, stesura relazioni. CREA
Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is ... more Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is mainly used for power generation, irrigation in agriculture, biodiversity conservation, tourism, recreation, and human and livestock consumption. Nevertheless, crucial information on the total number of water bodies and their geometrical characteristics and spatial distribution patterns are still missing. Thus, our main goal was to characterize the Extremenian water bodies geometrically and spatially through different statistical techniques such as kernel density, Moran’s index, the Getis-Ord Gi*, and principal component analysis (PCA). Firstly, all existing hydrological information was gathered, and using aerial aircraft imagery and satellite images, each water body (WB) was then carefully collected, checked, and corrected. We have inventoried 100,614 WBs (mean density: 2.45 WB km2), irregularly distributed on the territory. WBs with an area < 0.01 km2 (100 ha) represent 64.5% of the...
Spatialization of statistical information is often intended as the distribution of statistical da... more Spatialization of statistical information is often intended as the distribution of statistical data within administrative areas, represented as homogeneous. In this way, the spatial difference between statistical data often cannot be revealed, because of the low spatial resolution. Given the availability of point georeferenced data, the application of geostatistical interpolation methods allows to produce a spatial representation of statistical information more adherent to the reality, and not necessarily linked to the administrative boundaries. Maps obtained with these techniques not only enhance the dissemination of statistical information at territorial level, but also represent a valuable tool for policy makers. In this paper the results of a study performed on economic data at NUTS3 level (Province) in Italy are presented. Using GIS technology, it is possible to explore the relationship between the distribution of statistical data and some geographical features in the same region.
The agriculture in Biskra, southeastern Algeria, is based on traditional practices and characteri... more The agriculture in Biskra, southeastern Algeria, is based on traditional practices and characterized by small irrigated fields. In the last decades, the increasing demand in water as well as the scarcity of rainfall has forced many farmers to use groundwater of low quality to maintain the profitability of their crops. Unfortunately, this practice seems to be the main harmful factor for soil quality in the region since it is responsible for the salinization of the irrigated areas. Aiming to assess the impact of this phenomenon, the soils of the irrigated perimeter of El Ghrous—a representative rural community located in the west of Biskra—have been analyzed. A set of 82 soil samples was collected from top and subsoil (0–15 and 15–35 cm respectively), on which the following physicochemical analyzes were performed: Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , K + , Na + , Cl − , SO 4 2− , HCO 3 − , NO 3 − , pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and sodium adsorption ratio. A Principal Component Analysis was performed to individuate the geochemical processes that influenced significantly the evolution of soil salinity and its pathways. The results showed a calcium sulfate (CaSO 4 ) facies with a high risk of salinity and a low to medium risk of alkalinity. The calcite residual alkalinity and generalized residual alkalinity decreased as the solutions became more concentrated. Most of the samples were oversaturated in carbonate minerals (aragonite, calcite, and dolomite) and undersaturated in evaporitic minerals (anhydrite, gypsum, and halite). Finally, two multiple linear regressions (using cations and anions as independent variables) have been proposed to quantify soil salinity. These equations, with an accuracy of 85 %, can represent a time and money-saving tool for managers and farmers to estimate the EC, in comparison to the traditional estimation methods.
Soils of semi-arid climates undergo organic carbon loss, which in turn affects their agricultural... more Soils of semi-arid climates undergo organic carbon loss, which in turn affects their agricultural potential. Geostatistics is often used as an interpolation tool to thoroughly describe SOC spatial distribution. To focus on soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion, the Tiffech watershed (Northeast of Algeria), an economically important agricultural area, was chosen due to intensive agricultural practices, decline of forests and occurrence of erosion. The present study aimed to predict the spatial variation of SOC in Tiffech watershed using geostatistics and a Geographical Information System (GIS) software, comparing the performance of two geostatistical methods-Ordinary Kriging (OK) and Regression Kriging (RK)-also assessing the role of auxiliary variables in improving the prediction accuracy and highlighting the role of land cover in SOC storage. The SOC content in Tiffech soils was determined on 42 soil samples from the surface layer (0-10 cm) collected all over the study area and the results were used to estimate SOC density in non-sampled locations. The prediction efficiency of the two methods was evaluated by calculating the Mean Error (ME), the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the Root Mean Square Standardized Error (RMSSE). The interpolation results showed that SOC distribution in the study area was correlated to the topography, the clay index, and general landscape features. SOC content increased northwards in the area, ranging from 0.53 to 6.9 kg•m −2 in relation to land use. As expected, maps figured a good conservation status of SOC stocks in areas with dense vegetation; conversely poor SOC contents were estimated where land degradation factors take place. Cross-validation results showed an outperformance in the interpolation accuracy of RK on OK after the introduction of environmental variables, with an RMSE value of 0.02 versus 0.81. This suggests a higher efficiency of RK in predicting SOC content across the Tiffech area in comparison with OK, confirming that introducing some auxiliary data correlated to the target variable in SOC estimation, considerably improved the interpolation accuracy. 2017). Organic carbon sequestration in soils has gained growing attention as a means to reduce atmospheric CO 2 and, in perspective, global warming (Lal, 1999; Pan et al., 2003; Johnson et al., 2006). Previous studies, e.g.Tondoh et al. (2016), showed that sound land management of agricultural soils in semi-arid climate has a potential for organic carbon sequestration. The SOC originates from plant residues and organic fertilizers, being SOC stocks depending on soil decomposition rate, which in turn is driven by microorganisms and environmental factors such as land use, soil type
One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (... more One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (LCs)-suitable combinations of morphology, lithology and land use-representing a fundamental step in the definition of soil typological units. LCs are traditionally used by pedologists to correlate different soils and to identify the relationships between soil and geography. The recognition of the various soil characteristics for LCs definition is usually performed considering a number of classes for each feature (e.g. slope classes), defined a priori at a national scale. Such classes tend by nature to generalize and to flatten the actual local variability. Moreover, when dealing with large areas, taking into account a very fragmented layout is very difficult. To reduce subjectivity in interpretation, the choice of features defining soil associated LCs should be performed in an automatic or semi-automatic way. Digital Soil Mapping techniques can help to overcome these limits. In this work we propose a procedure to define the soil LCs for the territory of Latium administrative region (Central Italy), starting from a dataset of about 1500 fully described and analysed soil profiles and associated land surface parameters. The main soil diagnostic characteristics-depth, internal drainage, topsoil and subsoil texture, gravel, organic carbon content, cation exchange capacity, calcium carbonate content-were used, together with auxiliary information derived from existing thematic maps (geology, land use, pedoclimate), and from Digital Elevation Model (geomorphometric parameters). Some indices derived from remotely sensed high resolution images were also introduced to improve the estimate in areas with uniform land characteristics (i.e. flat alluvial valleys and coastal plains). Classes for the measured characteristics were defined based on their frequency distribution and of the WRB classification diagnostic thresholds. The covariates were chosen by an ANOVA, and a Principal Component Analysis was performed to avoid multicollinearity effects. Resulting principal components were used as predictors in a Multinomial logistic regression to build a raster layer for each considered soil characteristic. From all these layers, a final map of LCs was derived by means of a clustering operation. The final map represents the basis to map Soil Typological Units for the whole Latium region.
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Papers by Chiara Piccini