Antonio Scopa

• Degree in industrial chemistry
• Professor (Associate) at University of Basilicata

Conformational studies on synthetic repetitive sequences and analogues of elastin are described. CD and nmr measurements gave evidence of flexible β‐turns as the dominant structural feature whose stability was found to decrease by increasing the number of repetitive units. The sequences comprised the structural unit Gly‐X‐Gly (X = Val, Leu, Ala), w...

13C and 1H NMR spin-lattice relaxation rates have been measured for cytochalasin B in [2H]6DMSO. Motional features have been interpreted in terms of nearly isotropic reorientation of the whole molecule with few additional internal motions. The 'isotropic' reorientational correlation time was evaluated at 0.21 ns at room temperature. By using select...

The reduced availability of water resources in semi-arid Mediterranean regions requires an efficient use of supply sources. Urban wastewater, after treatment to minimise health hazards, may constitute an important resource for irrigation in areas characterised by intensive agriculture. These considerations have motivated an investigation (during th...

To routinely assay the concentration of riboflavin (RF) in wines, a rapid and sensitive method was developed and evaluated. The method is based on a simple sample preparation, capillary zone electrophoretic separation and laser-induced fluorescence detection (CZE-LIF). Sample preparation required only dilution and filtration. Under optimized condit...

The concept of metal bioavailability in soils is increasingly becoming the key to addressing potential risks. Yet, space–time variations of heavy metal concentrations in salt-affected soils is still vague. The current work, therefore, is the first attempt to address spatial and seasonal analyses of heavy metals in a Mediterranean arid agroecosystem...

Flash floods are highly destructive natural disasters, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions like Egypt, where data scarcity poses significant challenges for analysis. This study focuses on the Wadi Al-Barud basin in Egypt’s Central Eastern Desert (CED), where a severe flash flood occurred on 26–27 October 2016. This flash flood event, charact...

The relationships between soil aggregates, aggregate-associated carbon (C), and soil compaction indices in pomegranate orchards of varying ages (0–30 years) in Assiut, Egypt, were investigated. Soil bulk density (Bd) and organic carbon (OC) content increased with orchard age in both the surface (0.00–0.20 m) and subsurface (0.20–0.40 m) layers 0.20...

Availability in Egypt is minimal due to a real restriction on the quantity and quality of acceptable water; it is also increasingly in demand, particularly since the reduction in the share in the Nile following the construction of the Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia. At the same time, the need for water increases due to population growth, industrial de...

This study examines the potential of natural biostimulants to mitigate environmental stress and enhance growth, yield, and quality in eggplant (Solanum melongena L., cv. Black Beauty) grown in loamy sand soil. Eggplants were treated with foliar applications of ascorbic acid (AA) at 300 mg/L, chitosan (Ch) at 200 mg/L, and moringa oil (MO) at 1000 m...

Biochar derived from poultry manure increases nutrient availability and promotes plant growth. This study investigated the effect of biochar with mycorrhizal and/or plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria on soil fertility, chemical properties, oil, and seed yield of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa L.) plants. A split-plot design with three replicates was...

Maize and wheat are the main cereals grown in Egypt. However, the country relies on grain imports to meet its local demands. In order to improve their production, appropriate fertilization programs are needed. The present study investigates the effects of amending a clayey soil of an arid region with rice straw biochar and NPK mineral fertilizers,...

Water quality is crucial to the environmental system and thus its chemistry is important, and can be directly related to the water’s source, the climate, and the geology of the region. This study focuses on analyzing the hydrochemistry of specific locations within the Dakhla Oasis in Egypt. A total of thirty-nine groundwater samples representing th...

ANOTECHNOLOGY is a growing field that explores the interactions between engineered nanoparticles and ecosystems, with a focus on soil health and biodiversity. Engineered nanoparticles are intentionally designed at the nanoscale and offer unique properties and diverse applications, making them increasingly prevalent in consumer products and industri...

URING crop cultivation, improper application of fertilizers can lead to an imbalance in soil nutrients, resulting in decreased crop yield and deterioration of soil health. To determine the optimal fertilizer combinations for crops, omission experiments prove to be the most practical and straightforward approach. This research was conducted in the H...

The study carried out in Matera, Italy, used multi-criteria decision-making techniques and geographic information systems to identify optimal area management for sustainable grape production. Terrain parameters such as temperature, pH, humidity, soil texture, slope, altitude, nutrients and precipitation were considered. ArcGIS maps were created, an...

Accurately evaluating drought and its effects on the natural environment is difficult in regions with limited climate monitoring stations, particularly in the hyper-arid region of the Sultanate of Oman. Rising global temperatures and increasing incidences of insufficient precipitation have turned drought into a major natural disaster worldwide. In...

Background Humic acid affects plant growth. Its source and structure may play a central role to its functionality. The relationship between humic acid and plant bioactivity is still unclear. This study investigated the biostimulation effects of two natural humic acids derived from soil (SHA) and lignite (LHA) on Lepidium sativum in comparison to a...

This study focused on assessing surface water quality in the northwest part of the Egyptian Nile Delta (El-Menoufia Governorate) and evaluated water suitability for irrigation purposes using the Irrigation Water Quality Index (IWQI), Permeability Index (PI), Wilcox, United State Salinity (USSL) diagram, and Piper trilinear diagrams categories, taki...

Compost is commonly utilized to improve properties of infertile sandy soils, despite its high biodegradability which may increase greenhouse gases emissions. It is possible to combine compost with biochar, which degrades at a slower rate, forming a “co-composted biochar” product. This mixture could enhance plant growth parameters beyond those attai...

Comprehension of the long-term effects of irrigation on basic soil characteristics and quality is essential for sustainable land management and agricultural production, particularly in arid regions where water availability is limited. This study aimed to investigate long-term irrigation effects on soil quality, soil organic carbon (SOC), and nitrog...

Estimating soil erodible fraction based on basic soil properties in arid lands is a valuable research topic in the field of soil science and land management. The Proximal Sensing (PS) technique offers a non-destructive and efficient method to assess wind erosion potential in arid regions. By using Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) and Support...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a crucial factor influencing soil quality and fertility. In this particular investigation, we aimed to explore the possibility of using diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFT-FTIR) in conjunction with machine-learning models, such as partial least squares regression (PLSR), artificial neural...

Aqueous solutions of humic acid (HA) derivatized by a catalyzed O-alkylation reaction with methyl, pentyl, and benzyl groups at 40, 60, and 80% of total HA acidity were used to wash off polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from two contaminated soils. The enhanced surfactant properties enabled the alkylated HA to remove phenanthrene, anthracene,...

In arid and hyper-arid areas, groundwater is a precious and rare resource. The need for water supply has grown over the past few decades as a result of population growth, urbanization, and agricultural endeavors. This research aims to locate groundwater recharge potential zones (GWPZs) using multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) in the Wadi Qena Basin, E...

To investigate the stabilization mechanism of microbial necromass carbon (C) in rice paddy soil, the accumulation of microbial necromass and its contribution to SOC in bulk soil and in various fractions were addressed under a 40-year fertilization trial. The fertilization regimes included no fertilizer (Control), nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium...

Soil organic matter (SOM) is essential in maintaining soil structure, nutrient content, water retention, and biodiversity. It also represents an important C pool that, if efficiently stabilized, may play a role in the mitigation of global climate changes. However, knowledge is still limited on the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) molecular com...

The occurrence of flash floods is a natural yet unavoidable occurrence over time. In addition to harming people, property, and resources, it also undermines a country’s economy. This paper attempts to identify areas of flood vulnerability using a frequency ratio approach. The frequency ratio (FR) model was used to produce flood prediction maps for...

The nutritional components of cantaloupe, including vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and dietary fiber, contribute to overall health, improved immunity, hydration, and protection against chronic diseases. This study was conducted to investigate the influence of different concentrations (0 (control), 100, 150, and 200 ppm) of 1-naphthalene acetic a...

Humic Substances (HS), can be multifunctional, since besides their application in agriculture to increase soil fertility, they can be also used in the soil remediation from either heavy metals, or from persistent organic contaminants. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are major organic contaminants of poll...

One third of all food produced worldwide is lost or wasted according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN). Specifically, green organic wastes are the main urban and agricultural wastes. One possibility would be to recycle green wastes through the production of compost whose humified components are beneficial to...

Soil fertility (SF) assessment is an important strategy for identifying agriculturally productive lands, particularly in areas that are vulnerable to climate change. This research focuses on detecting SF zones in Firozabad district, Uttar Pradesh, India, for agricultural purposes, so that they can be prioritized for future management using the fuzz...

Abstract: In order to ensure the sustainability of production from agricultural lands, the degradation processes surrounding the fertile land environment must be monitored. Human-induced risk and status of soil degradation (SD) were assessed in the Northern-Eastern part of the Nile delta using trend analyses for years 2013 to 2023. SD hotspot areas...

The most critical issue that was the main research interest is its groundwater quality which is vital for public health concerns. Groundwater is a significant worldwide water supply for diverse communities, especially in dryland regions. Groundwater quality assessment in desert systems is largely hindered by the lack of hydrological data and the re...

The recent global upsurge in anthropogenic activities has resulted in a decline in the quality of water. This by extension has resulted in increased ubiquity of water pollution in terms of sources. The application of traditional water quality assessment methods usually involves the use of conventional water quality parameters and guideline values....

Oasis lands in Egypt are commonly described as salty soils; therefore, waterlogging and higher soil salinity are major obstacles to sustainable agricultural development. This study aims to map and assess soil salinization at El-Farafra Oasis in the Egypt Western Desert based on salinity indices, Imaging Spectroscopy (IS), and statistical techniques...

Oasis lands in Egypt are commonly described as salty soils; therefore, waterlogging and higher soil salinity are major obstacles to sustainable agricultural development. This study aims to map and assess soil salinization at El-Farafra Oasis in the Egypt Western Desert based on salinity indices, Imaging Spectroscopy (IS), and statistical techniques...

Crude oil is one of the major pollutants present. Its extraction and processing generate processing waters contaminated by hydrocarbons which are harmful to both human health and the flora and fauna that come into contact with it. Hydrocarbon contamination can involve soil and water, and several technologies are used for recovery. The most used tec...

Water scarcity is of growing concern in many countries around the world, especially within the arid and semi-arid zones. Accordingly, rationalizing irrigation water has become an obligation to achieve the sustainable developmental goals of these countries. This may take place via using deficit irrigation which is long thought to be an effective str...

An O-alkylation reaction catalyzed by tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH) as a phase-transfer agent was applied to a humic acid (HA) to modify its hydrophobic properties. The carboxyl and hydroxyl functional groups of HA acted as nucleophiles in substitution reactions (Sn2) with methyl iodide, pentyl bromide and benzyl bromide added in amounts equi...

Groundwater is the single source of water in El-Dakhla Oasis, western desert, Egypt. The main objective of this study is an assessment of groundwater in the area for agriculture and drinking compared to Egyptian and World Health Organization criteria. Most the contamination of water in the study area comes from human and agricultural activities. Th...

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), which has great impact on agronomic production worldwide, is both aphid and seed transmitted. Although the mechanisms of aphid transmission have been widely studied, those underlying the ability of CMV to survive and remain infectious during the passage from one generation to the next through the seeds are still to be c...

Nowadays, oil pollution is one of the main environmental problems. The current methods for recovering spills mainly involve chemical agents, but scientific research has focused on more natural and less harmful techniques for the environment, including a consortium of bacteria and microalgae to clean up water contaminated by hydrocarbons. The purpos...

Background and aims Biostimulants of natural origin represent a growing ecological strategy to increase crops productivity, especially when applied in combination with microbial bioeffectors. We studied the effect of biostimulants such as Potassium Humates (KH) from Leonardite and Compost Tea (CT) from green compost on both productivity and nutriti...

The presence of a noticeable rate of degradation in the land of the Nile Delta reduces the efficiency of crop production and hinders supply of the increasing demand of its growing population. For this purpose, knowledge of soil resources and their agricultural potential is important for determining their proper use and appropriate management. Thus,...

Soil salinity and sodicity are significant issues worldwide. In particular, they represent the most dominant types of degraded lands, especially in arid and semi-arid regions with minimal rainfall. Furthermore, in these areas, human activities mainly contribute to increasing the degree of soil salinity, especially in dry areas. This study developed...

Salinity systems are well known as extreme environmental systems that occur either naturally or by certain human activities, in arid and semiarid regions, which may harm crop production. Soil salinity identification is essential for soil management and reclamation projects. Information derived from space data acquisition systems (e.g., Landsat, AST...

Milk cream is a fluid milk product comparatively rich in fat, in the form of an emulsion of fat‐in‐skimmed milk, obtained by physical separation from milk, and widely used in the food industry. This study aims to evaluate the consequences of ozone treatment exposure time on lipid oxidation of milk cream, using peroxide value (PV) and thiobarbituric...

Agro-management zones recently became the backbone of modern agriculture. Delineating management zones for Variable-Rate Fertilization (VRF) can provide important ecological benefits and better sustainability of the new Egyptian farming projects. This article aims to represent an approach for delineating management zones using Spatial Multicriteria...

Cultivation practices alter the molecular status of the soil Humeome, meant as the ensemble of all heterogeneous humic molecules, whose changes need to be understood and monitored in order to maintain the sustainability of agricultural soils. We applied the Humeomics sequential chemical fractionation, coupled to characterization of separated fracti...

Recycling of different products and waste materials plays a crucial role in circular economy, where the anaerobic digestion (AD) constitutes an important pillar since it reuses nutrients in the form of organic fertilizers. Knowledge about the digestate and compost microbial community structure and its variations over time is important. The aim of t...

Lack of active sorption sites in sandy soils renders metals added by irrigation water more labile and increases their soil-to-plant transfer. Thus, this study investigated the long-term impacts of irrigation using sewage effluents and contaminated groundwater on metal accumulations in TypicTorripsamment soils, and edible parts of food crops. Nine s...

In the current study the processes of soil deterioration over the past five decades was evaluated. Land degradation risk, status, and rate were assessed in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt, in 2016 using OLI and ETM (2002) remote sensing data, and soil data from 1961.A quantitative deterioration was produced based on the comparative study approach...

The box and flux model is a mathematical tool used to describe and forecast the major and trace elements perturbations of the Earth biogeochemical cycles. This mathematical tool describes the biogeochemical cycles, using kinetics of first, second and even third order. The theory and history of the box and flux modeling are shortly revised and discu...

The reduced availability of water resources in Egypt has imposed the need to intensify the use of wastewater for crop irrigation in the alluvial soils. Relevant effects can derive from contents of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) in supply resources soils, crops, and groundwater in these areas. For this reason the PTM content has to be monitored to...

Modelling land degradation vulnerability (LDV) in the newly-reclaimed desert oases is a key factor for sustainable agricultural production. In the present work, a trial for using remote sensing data, GIS tools, and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was conducted for modeling and evaluating LDV. The model was then applied within 144,566 ha in Farafra...

The excessive use of agricultural soils and the reduction in their organic matter, following circular economy and environmental sustainability concepts, determined a strong attention in considering composting as a preferred method for municipalities and industries to recycle organic by-products. Microorganisms degrade organic matter for producing C...

BACKGROUND The production of fruit and vegetables rich in health‐promoting components in an eco‐friendly context represents the winning answer to the world population demand for food. In this study, the effects of different treatments on the yield and fruit chemical characteristics of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) are reported. The treatments in...

The control of plant diseases by inducing plant resistance responses represents an interesting solution to avoid yield losses and protect the natural environment. Hence, the intertwined relationships between host, pathogen and inducer are increasingly subject of investigations. Here, we report the efficacy of chitosan-elicited defense responses in...

The post-management of landfills represents an important challenge for landfill gas treatment. Traditional systems (energy recovery, flares, etc.) present technical problems in treating flow with low methane (CH4) concentrations. The objective of this study was to isolate methanotrophic bacteria from a field-scale biofilter in order to study the ba...

The first, second and third authors have contributed equally to this work. Summary The dynamics of crop load due to alternate bearing in olive are poorly known, as many environmental conditions and endogenous factors can have a key role in this physiological phenomenon. The aim of this study was to explore the alternate bearing in three olive culti...

The growing of microbial resistance leads to a great interest about some natural alternatives to synthetic compounds. This study was carried out in two olive orchards (Olea europaea L., cv. Coratina) South Italy (Basilicata region), one located in a polluted area near a fertilizers factory releasing Zn and the other in a control unpolluted site, bo...

Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) light (100 ≤ λ ≤ 280 nm) is a ionizing radiation that can damage living organisms. An experiment was conducted on plants of common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber, T. Densleonis Desf.) and purple coneflower [Echinacea purpurea, (L.) Moench] irradiated with UV-C at different exposition times, under controlled conditions an...

Fundamental niche prediction of Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii in Europe is an important tool to understand where these yeasts have a high probability to survive in the environment and therefore to identify the areas with high risk of infection. In the present study occurrence data for C. neoformans and C. gattii were compared by MaxEnt soft...

A screening strategy using micropropagation glass tubes with a gradient of distances between germinating seeds and a metal-contaminated medium was used for studying alterations in root architecture and morphology of Arabidopsis thaliana treated with cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) at the concentration of 10–20 μM and 100–200 μM, respectively. Metal conc...

Partial root-zone drying (PRD) is a deficit irrigation technique with great potential for water saving. A split-root experiment was conducted on tomato in controlled environment in order to test the response of two long-time storage cultivars to PRD. “Ponderosa” tomato, a cultivar with yellow fruits, was compared to “Giallo tondo di Auletta”, a loc...

Understanding the induction of plant defenses against viruses using biocontrol agents is essential for developing new strategies against these pathogens, given the ineffectiveness of chemical treatments. The ability of Trichoderma harzianum, strain T-22 (T22) to control Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) in Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme plants and...

The increasing interest in Arundo donax, a perennial lignocellulosic species only reproducing by propagation, requires the setup of cheap, simple and reliable techniques. Considering these targets, stem cutting offers considerable advantages. The present investigation aimed to compare: i) plants obtained by different propagation methods (by rhizome...

Artificial light, supplied by fluorescent lamps, has been effectively utilized in controlled environment chambers for horticulture and floriculture nursery. This experiment aimed at investigating whether light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have the same effectiveness on plant morphology, photosynthetic and physiological responses as FLUORA lamps. Seedling...

The present paper aims to investigate phenolic profiles, antioxidant capacity and mineral composition of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L., var. 'Maravilla de Verano') grown under conventional (CON) and an organic (ORG) systems with four different fertilization treatments. The polyphenolic profiles of leaf extracts were determined by ultra-high-performanc...

In order to elucidate the distribution of Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii in the Mediterranean basin, an extensive environmental survey was carried out during 2012–15. A total of 302 sites located in 12 countries were sampled, 6436 samples from 3765 trees were collected, and 5% of trees were found to be colonized by cryptococcal yeasts. Crypt...

In order to elucidate the distribution of Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii in the Mediterranean basin, an extensive environmental survey was carried out during 2012-2015. A total of 302 sites located in 12 countries were sampled, 6436 samples from 3765 trees were collected and 5% of trees were found to be colonized by cryptococcal yeasts. Cryp...

Background: Besides their nutritional value, vegetables are a source of healthy-promoting compounds, such as polyphenols, and their content can be influenced by the particular farming method. In this study polyphenolic extracts from Lactuca sativa (var. Maravilla de verano) plants cultivated with different farming methods were chemically character...

Stress factors provoke enhanced production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants. Though ROS and their reaction products may act as second messengers in regulating complex downstream effects on primary and secondary metabolism, reaction of unmetabolized ROS with lipids can cause irreversible damage to their structure, initiate oxidation and su...