Luigi Pari

Nitrogen Concentration Estimation in Tomato Leaves by VIS-NIR Non-Destructive Spectroscopy

Nitrogen concentration in plants is normally determined by expensive and time consuming chemical analyses. As an alternative, chlorophyll meter readings and N-NO3 concentration determination in petiole sap were proposed, but these assays are not always satisfactory. Spectral reflectance values of tomato leaves obtained by visible-near infrared spectrophotometry are reported to be a powerful tool for the diagnosis of plant nutritional status. The aim of the study was to evaluate the possibility and the accuracy of the estimation of tomato leaf nitrogen concentration performed through a rapid, portable and non-destructive system, in comparison with chemical standard analyses, chlorophyll meter readings and N-NO3 concentration in petiole sap. Mean reflectance leaf values were compared to each reference chemical value by partial least squares chemometric multivariate methods. The correlation between predicted values from spectral reflectance analysis and the observed chemical values showed in the independent test highly significant correlation coefficient (r = 0.94). The utilization of the proposed system, increasing efficiency, allows better knowledge of nutritional status of tomato plants, with more detailed and sharp information and on wider areas. More detailed information both in space and time is an essential tool to increase and stabilize crop quality levels and to optimize the nutrient use efficiency.

Technology alternatives for tapping the pruning residue resource

Four commercial harvesters were compared with respect to recovery of pruning residues for energy conversion. These harvesters were tested side-by-side on 17 test fields, totaling 15 ha. The test fields consisted of vineyards and apple and pear orchards. The residue yield was between 0.7 and 9 green tonne per hectare, at a moisture content from 37% to 48%. Yield was highest for the orchards, and lowest for vineyards. Harvesters collected the residues and moved them to the roadside at a cost of between 11 and 60€ per green tonne, depending on field conditions and technology choice. Single-pass harvesting was the cheapest, especially if applied through a dedicated tractor and a towed unit with a large integral container. Two-pass harvesting was the most flexible, but also the most expensive: it should be favored only when space, weather or other management constraints limit the application of the other systems.

Energy production from biomass: the case of Italy

A study to point out Italian primary energy consumption, the amount of biomass available for energy purpose, and the existing energy plants using biomass was carried out. The main data of the study, a summary of the Italian regulations for energy production and a critical view finalized to promote strategies for future actions are reported. The paper also reports a brief description of a demonstrative project to promote energy production at farm level.

A comparison of tractor-trailer units and high-speed forwarders used in Alpine forestry

The introduction of modern forwarders to Alpine forest operations must account for the traditional forwarding units used by local logging contractors. They generally use the same machine for extraction and intermediate off-road transportation on mountain trails, inaccessible to heavy road vehicles. Conventional forwarders are not designed for fast transportation on trail and cannot replace conventional tractor-trailer units. However, new high-speed forwarders could qualify for substitution. CNR set up a long-term follow-up study to determine the use pattern of three conventional tractor-trailer units and three high-speed forwarders. For this purpose, CNR installed commercial Global Positioning System/Global System for Mobile Communications data loggers for continuous real-time collection of the main work data, including position, status, speed and fuel consumption. The study showed that new forwarders could actually travel at a speed higher than 20 km h−1, and they performed both extraction and intermediate transportation. They were capable of independent relocation, which made them suitable for small-scale forestry. Both machine types were used intensively, but the annual usage of forwarders was almost twice as large as that of tractor-trailer units (i.e. 1301 vs. 717 hours per year). Furthermore, forwarders had a 27% higher hourly productivity and a 50% higher fuel consumption per hour, compared with tractor-trailer units.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of gallic acid analogs

A novel and efficient synthesis of pyrogallol moiety through a copper(I)-mediated C–O bond forming reaction is described. In particular, syntheses of 3,4,5-trihydroxyphenethyl alcohol and its methyl derivative are reported. Particular attention to dimethyl carbonate as an eco-friendly solvent/reactant has been paid, in order to improve the eco-compatibility of the whole synthetic pathway. Furthermore, the genotoxicity, cytotoxicity and the antioxidant activity of 3,4,5-trihydroxyphenethyl alcohol and its methyl derivative have been investigated.

Oilseed pressing and vegetable oil properties and upgrading in decentralised small scale plants for biofuel production

Vegetable oils became a very popular bioliquid for renewable power and transport applications. At local level, the short chain production of vegetable oils is currently important in terms of sustainability and use of rural area. This present work investigates the development of vegetable oils production chain in the Tuscany territory, focusing also to valorisation of the co-products (i.e., oil cake). The work is based on the study of the cultivation of rapeseed and sunflower, and the creation of an extraction plant based on cold-screw pressing technology, in order to obtain a raw vegetable oil suitable as biofuel. The German DIN 51623 standard was adopted to investigate the quality of vegetable oils obtained from different oil crops. Vegetable oils quality was evaluated by comparing the oil produced by a bench press at lab scale, comparing the results in terms of process yields and lipid fraction recovered. Due to the high phosphorous content of rapeseed oil, out of the DIN limits, an experimental procedure to remove P content and restore the oxidation stability of the oils was performed. The results showed a substantial P reduction by adding 2 wt% of P-removing additive. The oil cake properties were evaluated in view of its potential use for bioenergy production, in particular in terms of metals content. [Received: December 5, 2015; Accepted: September 20, 2016]

Evaluation of sensors for poplar cutting detection to be used in intra-row weed control machine

In Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) of poplar, the weeds within the row have a detrimental effect.A photoelectric and capacitive sensors was used for detecting the poplar cuttings along the row.The detection system has proved able to recognize the poplar cuttings.The system appears suitable for a future evaluation on the intra-row weeding machines. For Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) cultivation, it is common practice to use herbicides during the first year, even if mechanical weeding is becoming an alternative practice for environmental and agronomic reasons. Much attention was paid to non-chemical weeding within the rows, but the low level of efficiency of available machinery has led to the development of automatic systems that are capable of weeding the spaces in the row and avoiding the plants.In the framework of this study, a photoelectric and a capacitive sensor (the latter specifically developed for identifying poplar cuttings), was tested. A small platform pulling the sensors was moved along a monorail in order to assess the capability of the sensors for localizing cuttings along the row. The study was conducted on one-year old poplar cuttings. At this stage the plants have little mechanical strength and are unable to withstand the impact of traditional mechanical probes situated on the retractable elements of weed control machinery (hoes, cultivators). Each sensor identified the plant according to its own functional parameters. The divergence between the response of the sensors and the actual position of the cuttings allowed for the accuracy assessment of detection.The capacitive sensor showed a higher amplitude of response in presence of a poplar cutting than the photoelectric sensor. No significant differences were observed for the various distances (0.15, 0.20 and 0.25m) of the detection system from the row and for the different speeds (1.0 and 1.5kmh-1) of the rail.The first results showed that the testing apparatus accurately detected poplar cuttings at the same speed used by common mechanical weed control machines. The sensors tested proved to be suitable to be included in intra-row weeding machines. This will be the main goal of future activities, an interesting prospect for firms producing agricultural machinery for biomass crops.

A Mower-Conditioner to Improve Fiber Sorghum Plant Drying

Abstract. Fiber sorghum [( L. (Moench.)] is recognized as having potential as an energy crop to allocate towards biogas or bioethanol production. However, due to the considerable amount of biomass produced, the harvesting presents some drawbacks. In Italy the cultivation of fiber sorghum is concentrated in the North where the harvesting occurs at the end of summer, on plants having, on average, 70% of moisture. For allowing the storage in bales, a product with at least 30% of moisture is required. Drying time of non-conditioned plants in open field may be too long, exposing the mowed biomass to adverse climatic conditions that may negatively affect the drying time and the success of the subsequent baling. The work presents the first results of a new mower-conditioner designed by CREA-ING (Rome-ITALY) able to guarantee high efficiency in stem conditioning. The experimental tests were conducted in northern Italy where the performance of the machine was analyzed. Importantly, the mechanical action of conditioning apparatus determined a deeper cracking along the stem. As a result, the time required to reach the minimum moisture threshold (30%) for baling was reduced to 72 h hafter mowing. After just 5 days from conditioning, the moisture content was around 20%. To our knowledge, compared with the data of the available literature, this is the best result on drying time. Moreover, the regression analysis showed that for this specific study, none of the tested climatic parameters resulted in a decrease of moisture content in the sorghum biomass, thus confirming that the drying is mainly due to the conditioning action.