Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia最新文献

Rural territories cover 91% of EU27 area and 56% of population live in there. Common Agricultural Policy pays more and more attention to these territories, in particular to their development. In this work it is argued that a generic agricultural and/or socio-economic characterization might be not sufficient to understand these territories, to formulate appropriate policies and ultimately to evaluate the effectiveness of such policy measures. In our view, the “agricultural” character is closely related to the farmland natural attributes as well as to the specific farming activities while the “rural” character is more related to the functional relationships with the urban areas. Hence, a methodology is discussed to classify a geographical space based on a simple measure of urbanization and to provide a classification that considers multiple degrees of urbanization and/or rurality. The method is applied to municipality data for the Lombardy region to distinguish network-based urban systems from mono-centric cities and to classify “non-urban” territories accordingly, separating rural from peri-urban areas. Statistical tests are conducted to study the extent to which the different typologies of territories identified differ with respect to a set of agricultural characteristics. Substantial differences in agriculture are highlighted between urban and rural areas as well as among “non-urban” areas, suggesting that more rigorous definitions of rural can best used to program policies for sustainable local development.

Sustainable agriculture is closely related to farming practices. In order to attain sustainable agriculture, there are many farming practices such as land preparation, used of fertilizers and weedicides among other indicators of farming practices. In particular, weed and pest control are focal points for certain crops such as cotton, rice, vegetables, and fruit with heavily applied chemical inputs which cause unsustainability in farming. Among food crops, paddy requires heavy doses of fertilizers, weedicides and pesticides to keep it healthy and productive. The objective of this study is to determine the factors that contribute to unsustainability of paddy farming practices at field level via Paddy Farmer Sustainability Index (PFSI) based on the current 33 paddy farming practices. Tobit regression analysis found that knowledge and awareness have played important role in determinant of unsustainability level in paddy farming.

In a globalized market where the national and international competition is growing it is important, for the Food System, to be able to focus on innovative strategies concerning the adoption of “sustainable” practices to represent an element of distinction and added value.

Sustainability, in its widest meaning of well-being sustainability, can be analyzed considering four visions: environmental, economic, social and generational.

In this paper, starting from a literature review, we will proceed to a theoretical analysis of the impact of the food system on the environment and of actions that, over time, have attempted to reduce it.

In a second phase we will focus on the olive oil sector, which although, to date, does not include environmental externalities regarded as most critical, it is good to start to reconsider it in a new perspective.

This will ensure that olive oil production can gain the competitive advantage of sustainability either to win the global competition for fielding competitive strategies, or contribute to territorial well-being sustainability.

It will be used as a theoretical reference model Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which will set a complete picture of the interactions with the environment of the olive oil sector. The LCA considers externalities of each phase of olive oil production towards human health, ecosystem quality and resource depletion and also economic and social impacts.

Finally, we will apply the LCA model to same Italian case studies in order to evaluate their environmental performance.

The concept of human smart landscape introduces a perspective of research where the landscape identifies a complex system of relationships among the various smart dimensions (smart economy, smart mobility, smart environment, smart people, smart living, smart governance) and different interpretative approaches, overcoming the consideration of territory as a physical–geometrical reality at the service of economic aspects. The paper, starting from the evolution of the landscape's concept, focuses on the management of its complexity in the transformation processes included in the dynamic context of the landscape's cultural values and in the development strategies designed to support and strengthen these values. A multidimensional methodological framework, oriented to the evaluation and valorisation of landscape complex values, has been structured and tested in the National Park of Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni (Italy).

The paper aims to present the integrative potential of natural mycorrhization in short experiments. Mycorrhization parameters provide quantitative and qualitative indices of plant root development. Assessing the degree of dependence of plants to symbiotic association may represent an important step in estimating the strength and durability of a species in natural ecosystems. The degree of colonization is part of the methodology for estimating the volume explored by root symbiotic fungi, the value indicating the associative dependence. For values of the colonization degree below 10%, the association is casual and over 50% the association became mandatory. These values are due to a balanced frequencies and intensities. In general, differentiated fertilization and treatments acts to individualize the exploratory reaction of mycorrhizas. The strongest effects of the experimental variants are seen at the end of the growing season. Principal components analysis highlights the separation effect of fertilization and individualizes the treatments on graphs. Principal components analysis ordination of the colonization degree shows a normalization of mycorrhizal reaction to interaction fertilization x treatment and maximize the effect of experimental graduations. Zinc sulphate is the most restrictive treatment in combination with fertilization. Mineral or organo-mineral fertilization is beneficial for mulching at the vegetation peak and fungicides respond well to organo-mineral fertilization.

The principle of equality should regulate relations between men and women in both private and public life. Socialization in public institutions gender influenced characteristic, which may or may not overlap over the traditional model. The research aims to identify students at USAMV Bucharest views on equality between women and men, the significance of equality, which is the “dominating” factor within the family or in society. The research was conducted at the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest on a research sample group of 375 respondents. Research results showcase that respondents consider that in Romania there is no real equality of rights between men and women and gender segregation is far-reaching, in the sense of a patriarchal role. On this background, there is an urgent need to implement gender policies that promote an egalitarian model that encourages a partnership within the family and in society.

This study examined the effect of environmental factors water activity (a_w) and temperature on lag phase prior to growth and growth rate of six aflatoxigenic fungi, Aspergillus section Flavi, strains were isolated from stored paddy rice grain in Thailand. Statistical analysis indicated that both studied stress factors significantly affected lag phases and radial growth rates at the a_w and temperature regimes studied (P<0.05). Overall, the growth of each strain was similar over the 20-40°C and 0.90-0.98 a_w ranges but optimal condition was found to be around 0.95 a_w and 30°C. Under severe a_w stress (0·90 a_w) with elevated temperature (40°C), differences were observed in growth responses, with some strains unable to grow. The lag phases were significantly increased at marginal temperature and a_w levels. The combined factors showed statistical interaction for growth rate (P<0.05), while there was no evidence of statistical interaction effect on the lag phases prior to growth (P>0.05). Growth rate under more freely available water conditions (>0.95 a_w), the disordinal interaction was observed when strains were cultured at higher temperatures (>30°C). In contrast, growth rate with cooler temperatures at <30°C showed ordinal interaction. Growth rates were fastest at 0.95 a_w and 30°C. However, this was not significantly different from that at 0.98 and 0.90 a_w (P>0.05).

This paper explores a new emerging function for Universities: that of co-creation for sustainability (Trencher et al., 2013, Trencher et al., 2014a, Trencher et al., 2014b). Contribution to sustainability involves an engagement in place-based, multi-stakeholder partnerships able to solve real-world issues. This theory is applied to multiple case studies which involve the University of Macerata, located in a rural area in the Marche region (Italy). Case study methodology is applied in order to understand if conditions expressed by the theory are met or need extension (Yin, 2009). Findings support the new emerging framework and describe the different roles assumed by the University in each of the cases.

The main aim of this research is to explore the effect of supplementary feeding, Azolla piñata and probiotics, on the quality and profile of fatty acids in patin fish oil extracts, protein and amino acids content. In this research, patin fish were divided into three different feeding treatments: pellets only (P1) as a control; pellets and A. piñata (P2); pellets and probiotics (P3). These fishes were characterized for their growth profile, fish oil quality, protein and amino acids content. P3 shows the best growth profile indicated with the heaviest bodyweight compare to other fish samples. Quality of fish lipids was determined by an analysis of acid value, saponification number, peroxide value, iodine number, along with an analysis of the composition of fatty acids via gas chromatography. The results show that the highest oil yield from patin fish meal extracted using dry rendering method was obtained from P3. P3 also shows the lowest saponification number and peroxide value. Oleic acid and palmitic acid are the major constituent of unsaturated fatty acid and saturated one, respectively, in all these fish samples. The highest crude protein content which was determined using Kjeldahl method also presented in P3. The amount and the dominant amino acids content in the protein of P1, P2, and P3, in the order, are 13 amino acids: tryptophan, 14 amino acids: asparagine, and 13 amino acids: glutamic acids.

The greenhouses cultivation causes in summer season inner conditions characterized by high thermal levels such as to generate problems that can damage crops. Always more frequently for this reason it is common to provide greenhouse with air conditioning plants. In this work it will be presented an application of a solar cooling plant with absorption cooling machine for thermal control of a greenhouse and an advanced simulation model able to evaluate optimal plant configurations and controls. Solar cooling systems can be applied for greenhouse climate control in regions with high values of solar irradiation as alternative to traditional evaporative systems, allowing the reduction of primary energy consumption by exploiting the contemporaneity between the cooling requirements and the solar energy availability.

The plant consists of a single effect LiBr-H2O absorption chiller fed by evacuated-tube solar collectors; the model was developed in Matlab-Simulink and is able to simulate dynamically, with time steps up to 15 minutes, the greenhouse cooling demand and the production of the solar field.

Present study proposes a plant configuration with a distribution system in which the cooling power is not provided for the entire volume of the greenhouse, but only for the air volume surrounding the crop with a considerable saving of reduction of energy demand and an extremely efficient use of solar energy. The simulation study is based on the experimental data collected at the experimental center of the University of Bari, Southern Italy.

The aim of the work is to demonstrate that solar cooling system could provide significant energy-saving opportunities for cooling greenhouses allowing the reduction of primary energy consumption by exploiting the contemporaneity between the cooling requirements and the solar energy availability.