Papers by Valentina Baratella
Integrated Pest Management: Innovation-Development Process, 2009
The manipulation of beneficial organisms remains a very important tool in integrated pest managem... more The manipulation of beneficial organisms remains a very important tool in integrated pest management programs of insect pests worldwide. This chapter describes the approaches to using biological control and a historical perspective of each. Recent developments in genetics, systematics, population dynamics, pesticide chemistry, and public opinion have led to increased scrutiny and inclusion of beneficial insects into IPM programs. This chapter describes these developments and the variety of approaches that have been used to implement biological control as a useful tactic in IPM. It also describes how biological control interacts with other IPM tactics, and the potential for better integration into IPM programs.
Quality and safe food is an imperative in organic production. Recently, in EU market some organic... more Quality and safe food is an imperative in organic production. Recently, in EU market some organic fruits and vegetables were positive (>0.01 mg/kg) to phosphonic acid (i.e., phosphite), despite fosetyl-Al or phosphite are not allowed as plant protection products in Reg. EC n.889/2009. In 2016, the Italian Ministry of Agricolture funded the BIOFOSF project to the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, which promoted a partecipatory approach among researchers, farmers and control bodies for solving this issue. The endogenous production of phophonic acid was not observed, while it was evidenced that its origin is due only to external inputs. A contamination of some plant protection products (PPP) and organic fertilizers allowed in organic farming was found, thus suggesting a deep revision of their official control system. Introduction: Until 2018, under the Directive for "Requirements for Certification Bodies of products obtained with organic farming method" (ACCREDIA RT-16), in Italy the detection of phosphonic acid (PHY) residues >0.01 mg/kg in organic products, without simultaneous detection of ethylphosphonic acid (ET-PHY) deriving from fosetyl-aluminum use (FOS, not allowed in organic farming) was considered a "false positive" and the same goods were not decertified and the operator not sanctioned. From 2014, several Italian organic products were found contaminated by PHY>0.01 mg/kg (DM n.309/2011): in 2016, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture funded the BIOFOSF project "Strategy for solving phosphite issue in organic fruit and vegetable products" to the Council for agricultural research and economics (CREA) to understand the origin of phosphonic acid residues in organic food and to verify if the revision of the RT-16 interpretation was needed.
Result of multicriteria decision making tool from survey data
Case study 5, 6, 7, 7-bis, LTE: Intensive arable Durum Wheat and Tomato
BIOFOSF «Solving phosphite issue in organic fruit and horticultural crops: research outcomes and policy strategies» Project funded by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies PQAI 1 - Organic production
a briefly review Biološko suzbijanje maslinine muhe Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritida... more a briefly review Biološko suzbijanje maslinine muhe Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae) u sustavu integrirane zaštite:
The poster presents the objectives of the SUREVEG project, with the aim to discuss with the farme... more The poster presents the objectives of the SUREVEG project, with the aim to discuss with the farmers who participated to the Open Day of July, 5th 2018 organized by the CREA on the limits and potential development of the strip-cropping application in organic vegetable cropping systems in Central Italy.
Impiego del trinciato di palma in un substrato per il vivaismo forestale
Con la diffusione della moria delle palme ornamentali (in particolare, del genere Phoenix) provoc... more Con la diffusione della moria delle palme ornamentali (in particolare, del genere Phoenix) provocata dal coleottero Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Punteruolo rosso) negli ultimi anni si sono resi disponibili quantitativi crescenti di materiali residui di palma che la normativa vigente prevede di smaltire tramite bruciatura o trinciatura. Tali materiali possono essere utilmente miscelati ai substrati di coltivazione per piante ornamentali od arboree. Il lavoro riporta i risultati di una specifica sperimentazione avviata nell'ambito del progetto nazionale di ricerca PROPALMA - Protezione delle Palme ornamentali e spontanee dall’invasione biologica del Punteruolo rosso (finanziato dal MIPAAF), finalizzata ad indagare il possibile utilizzo del trinciato di palma nel substrato per la vivaistica forestale
Agronomy, 2020
Recently, on the EU market, phosphonic acid residues were detected in many organic goods, althoug... more Recently, on the EU market, phosphonic acid residues were detected in many organic goods, although fosetyl-derivates and phosphite salts are not allowed by Reg. EC n. 889/2009. The BIOFOSF project “Solving phosphite issue in organic fruit and horticultural crops” aimed at verifying whether the phosphonic acid contamination could be due to unproper use of fertilizers/plant protection products by organic farmers, or to the plant’s ability to self-produce it spontaneously. Applying a participative approach, field case-studies on potato, rocket lettuce, and pears were carried out (organic vs. integrated systems). The ethyl-phosphonic acid and phosphonic acid were determined in soil, tubers, leaves, fruits, tree woody organs, used fertilizers, and plant protection products to correlate them to the applied farming management. Tested crops were not able to self-synthetize phosphonic acid, being its detection due to: (i) external inputs not allowed in organic farming; (ii) fertilizers/plant...
Water, 2018
The use of water surfactants in fertigation constitutes a viable approach to increase soil wettin... more The use of water surfactants in fertigation constitutes a viable approach to increase soil wetting, potentially improving crop nutrient uptake and quality. An in-field demonstration test was carried out by applying an innovative, eco-friendly, non-ionic surfactant to fertigation water in Lactuca sativa (var. Iceberg) production to increase nutrient use efficiency and improve the crop's access to water. A non-ionic methyl-oxirane surfactant (methyl-oxirane + 2-methyl-oxirane) was added at an increasing rate to the fertigation solution (Hoagland). Upon harvesting, the main growth and nutritional parameters were determined on the aboveground and belowground portions of the lettuce. Leaf nitrate content, water, and nitrogen use efficiency were recorded; the relationship of lettuce aboveground dry biomass with nutrient uptake was evaluated using vectorial analysis; and ultrastructural analysis of lettuce roots was performed by scanning electron microscopy. The surfactant, applied by fertigation at the rate of 1.0 mL × L Hoagland −1 , improved crop P, K, Mn, and Fe use efficiency. When applied by fertigation, although the surfactant did not increase the water use efficiency index, it induced a significant decrease of the specific leaf water content (−8.8%) and an increase of the leaf area (+13.3%). By comparison with the recent literature, we inferred a positive physiological response by more expanded and less thick leaves in lettuce, likely by the optimization of the crop water and nutrient root uptakes mediated by the abundant but shortest lateral roots. This finding corresponded to the lowest leaf nitrate content, indicating an improvement of the lettuce quality without losing the crop yield.
Ecology and Evolution, 2019
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Agricultural Water Management, 2018
In a time of resource reduction and climate variability, water conservation is critical to improv... more In a time of resource reduction and climate variability, water conservation is critical to improve agroecosystem sustainability. Non-ionic surfactants were recently hypothesized as irrigation adjuvants, but so far researchers obtained contrasting results. The first objective of this work was to evaluate the capillary adsorption properties of organosilicone surfactants by providing two robust tests on standard porous media. Results showed smaller capillary mobility and higher wetting power ("superspreading") compared to pure water. An innovative nonionic surfactant formulation, the organosilicone PET (PolyEther-modified Trisiloxane), was then investigated as irrigation adjuvant in a pot trial on lettuce in absence of fertilization. Overall, the system was characterized by an improvement in the processes of resource acquisition, i.e. water and nutrients. Results indicated higher lettuce leaf area, reduced root dry weight and root:shoot ratio and a positive main effect on the uptake, availability and/or use efficiency of P, K and some micronutrients. The N use efficiency and recovery increased 3-15%, with higher N concentration and content against changes in plant weight. Fresh yield data showed a particularly high irrigation use efficiency (+77-60%), and the adjuvant productivity (variation of lettuce yield due to PET) increased by 12-26%. Our experimental findings can be explained by hypothesizing that PET affected both capillary and adsorption processes during water diffusion along concentration gradients, which constitute the main driving force for solutes movement towards the roots. A theoretical model is provided to explain how PET improved the thickening and interconnection of conductive adsorbed water film in soil.
Biological Control, 2017
BACKGROUND The development of a continuous rearing protocol for the olive fly Bactrocera oleae (R... more BACKGROUND The development of a continuous rearing protocol for the olive fly Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae) remains a fundamental goal of biocontrol programs. We report a new method for continuous small-scale laboratory rearing on olive fruits. The effect of different photoperiod (long and short-day), in combination with two levels of temperature (16°C and 27°C), was verified RESULTS Laboratory colonies were successfully maintained on olive fruits for more than 24 months, until project termination. Data showed a short-day photo-phase response: all tested parameters (pupation, emergence, life span, sex ratio) substantially increased on the short-day, except for the emergency rate. Also, changes in the population size were observed in response to photoperiodic condition. There was a significant interaction effect between temperature and photoperiod for pupal stage duration, adult emergence and population size. CONCLUSION In earlier and recent literature, most of the rearing procedures adopted long-day photophase and high temperature, but scarce investigation was performed on the effects of the photoperiod on the olive fly. In the present work, we developed a novel method for continuous laboratory rearing of the olive fly on its natural host, which allowed to demonstrate a clear effect of the photoperiod on the effectiveness of the rearing procedures. Laboratory colonies with access to olive fruits showed a short-day photoperiodic response: the optimal combination of climatic parameters was photoperiod 8:16 LD and temperature 16°C.
Acta Horticulturae, 2016
In crop management, the use of surfactants (surface active agents) in the formulation of differen... more In crop management, the use of surfactants (surface active agents) in the formulation of different pesticides and herbicides has rapidly increased and, more recently, their use as adjuvant for irrigation water has been proposed. In order to assess possible synergistic or antagonistic effects between the application of surfactants and the mineral fertilization, a first agronomical trial on lettuce, by testing a non-ionic surfactant formulation (45% fatty acid ester, 45% sorbitan sesquioctanoate and 10% propylene glycol), was carried out. The surfactant was administered to lettuce (Lactuca sativa 'Iceberg') in 2 or 3 application, through irrigation water, in presence or absence of mineral fertilization (granular urea). After 21 days, biometric parameters, nutrient uptake and potential interaction effect between the surfactant and the fertilizer were evaluated by ICP-AES and vector analysis. After 3 surfactant applications and in absence of fertilization, results highlighted a probable detrimental and/or phytotoxic effect on plant growth. Root growth was more influenced by surfactant applications, interacting with the mineral fertilization: without fertilization, a negative effect on root fresh and dry weight was noticed, but on the contrary, in fertilized lettuce, the same biometric parameters significantly increased. The vector analysis allowed to highlight an increased nutrient use efficiency both in ipogeic and epigeic lettuce after 2 surfactant applications, after 3 applications plus fertilization and, for the epigeic, portion of lettuce, after 2 applications plus fertilization. Since in fertilized soils the surfactant induces improved roots robustness, together with a better efficiency of nutrient use, it is reasonable to hypothesize that the tested formulate could act at soil/root interface, probably by favouring root water uptake and, consequently, the nutrient assimilation by lettuce.
Studio sui rimboschimenti a Pinus halepensis Mill. delle pendici calanchive del comune di Pisticci
Criteri per ammettere i fertilizzanti in biologico
Il Mipaaf ha definito le linee per ammettere i fertilizzanti in agricoltura biologica. Per gli id... more Il Mipaaf ha definito le linee per ammettere i fertilizzanti in agricoltura biologica. Per gli idrolizzati proteici si apre uno spiraglio per un loro riconoscimento anche a livello comunitario
Preliminary trials for a continuous rearing of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) on its natural host Olea europaea L. in the laboratory and future perspectives
A simple and affordable small-scale rearing technique to supply olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae... more A simple and affordable small-scale rearing technique to supply olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae Rossi) instars continuously throughout the year, even when fresh fruits are not available naturally to oviposit, is essential to optimize biological studies. Olive fruits came from a typical olive grove of northern Lazio (Cura di Vetralla, VT, central Italy), organically managed. Cages, feeders and instruments were specially designed. The fruits were kept fresh for more than 1 year in special “muffs” of straw and tulle, assembled directly on fruiting branches. The rearing started in 2005, as soon as emergences occurred. Adults were collected from the field and moved to the rearing cages with a bunch of sound and fresh fruits, to allow egg laying. Thereafter, every time a new lab generation started emerging, a bundle of fresh fruits was moved from the field into the cages to let new ovidepositions occur. Temperature and RH were maintained at standard lab conditions, 20°C ± 2°C, 60% ± 5% RH, and natural photoperiod. From 11 October 2005 to 22 January 2007, the fly gave 13 continuous reproductive cycles in the lab, 1 generation every 40 days on average. An exception was the 9th generation (27 August - 27 September) which lasted 31 days because of accidental high temperatures (26-27°C). This is the first method which has succeeded in obtaining olive fly generations continuously on its natural host. Fine tuning this technique will make it suitable for every other study (i.e. physiological, biological and behavioural studies, parasitoid rearing and release, sterile insect technique, etc.).
Development of a continuous small-rearing technique on natural host for the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) and study on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by Olea europaea L. as potential host allelochemics
Caratterizzazione delle sostanze umiche in profili di suoli forestali della Tenuta di Castelporziano
COST action FP0701 Post-fire forest management in Southern Europe
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Papers by Valentina Baratella