The olive fruit fly ( Rossi) is the most dangerous pest of olive fruits and negatively influences the chemical and sensory quality of the oil produced. Organic farms have few tools against this pest and are constantly looking for effective and sustainable products such as geomaterials, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe application of natural zeolites to improve soil quality and functioning has become highly popular, but we still miss information about the long-term effects on the soil due to its application. This study assesses the soil quality index (SQI) of three distinct agricultural soil systems 6-10 years after a single application of natural chabazite zeolite as a soil amendment. These soils exhibit different management practices: intensive arable (cereals), intensive perennial (pear) and organic perennial (olive).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, food quality and safety has become of great interest, with a consequent demand for geographical identification of agri-food products and eco-friendly agricultural practices. In this study geochemical analyses of soils, leaves and olives from two areas in the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy), Montiano and San Lazzaro were performed aiming at identifying geochemical fingerprints able to (1) univocally determine the locality of provenance and (2) the effect of different foliar treatments (control, dimethoate, and alternating of natural zeolitite and dimethoate in MN; Spinosad + Spyntor fly, natural zeolitite and NH-enriched zeolitite in SL). PCA and PLS-DA (including VIP analysis) were used to discriminate between localities and different treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a widely recognized need to reduce human activity's impact on the environment. Many industries of the leather and textile sector (LTI), being aware of producing a significant amount of residues (Keßler et al. 2021; Liu et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecycling nutrients is of paramount importance. For this reason, struvite and nitrogen enriched zeolite fertilizers produced from wastewater treatments are receiving growing attention in European markets. However, their effects on agricultural soils are far from certain, especially struvite, which only recently was implemented in EU Fertilizing Product Regulations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe olive fruit fly is worldwide considered a major harmful pest of the olive agroecosystem. In Italy, the fruit fly infestation is traditionally countered by spraying chemical insecticides (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNa contamination of irrigation waters represents a global environmental issue for soil structure and plant production. Notwithstanding several techniques for the reduction of Na have been proposed in recent years, they generally exhibit disadvantages, including low recyclability and relatively high operational/maintenance costs. In this paper, we propose a natural and eco-friendly solution for the reduction of Na risk in coastal agricultural sandy soil (SS), vulnerable to salinity stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReclaimed salt marshes are fragile environments where water salinization and accumulation of heavy metals can easily occur. This type of environment constitutes a large part of the Po River Delta (Italy), where intensive agricultural activities take place. Given the higher Ni background of Po River Delta soils and its water-soluble nature, the main aim of this contribution is to understand if reclamation can influence the Ni behavior over time.
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