Carlo Bisaglia

• PhD
• Chief technologist at Consiglio per la ricerca e l'analisi dell'economia agraria (CREA)

Farming operations such as seeding, fertilizing, spraying, weeding, and harvesting can benefit from Precision Agriculture (PA) technologies like Global Navigation Satellite System, auto guidance, and ISOBUS implements. These technologies improve accuracy, reduce energy needs, and allow for better timeliness. While digital machines have shown rapid...

The optimal management of cattle nutrition promotes animal health and welfare, increases livestock farms’ productivity and competitiveness, and enhances environmental sustainability practices. Animal feeding operations play a crucial role as many factors can drive the theoretical ration formulated by nutritionists far from the one the animals inges...

Early diagnosis of subclinical ketosis is fundamental in the production management of dairy cattle. Without evident clinical signs, this pathological condition causes important economic losses for the farmer and significant health repercussions for the cattle that could develop an altered immune function. Laboratory techniques, although accurate, a...

This review describes the potentials of a new omics science in the dairy sector, particularly regarding the improvement of animal health and welfare. The three-dimensional network of water hydrogen bonds is a dynamic entity, subject to the influence of its components and properties of the environment. For this reason, it is sensitive to any chemica...

Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) yield should be maximized to meet the growing global demand for pasta production. Precision agriculture (PA) could play a pivotal role in reaching this goal by correctly defining management zones (MZ) and optimizing the use of energy inputs. The aim of the work was to understand the relationship between MZ generat...

The European Union promotes the development of a sustainable approach to solid waste management and disposal. Sewage sludge (SWS) is a good example of this economic model because it has fertilizing and soil-conditioning characteristics. This study employed a conventional manure spreader to evaluate the distribution of SWS on agricultural land. Vari...

The early diagnosis of metabolic disorders in intensive farms, such as ketosis, allows a timely health treatment, resulting in improved animal welfare and reduced productivity and economic losses for farmers. This approach represents an opportunity for more sustainable animal production practices. For these reasons, we developed a chemometric proce...

L'interramento delle frazioni scheletriche oltre la profondità di lavorazione può essere una efficace alternativa allo spietramento per rimozione o frantumazione in loco del pietrame, consentendo di costituire un franco di coltivazione di migliore qualità, di adeguata profondità, e stabile a lungo termine.

Fertilization plays a strategic role in the cultivation of wheat, contributing to harvest yield, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. However, similarly to all farm inputs, it has both economic and environmental impacts due to fertilizer dispersion into the environment during its distribution, as well as any excess fertilizer not used by the...

Special Issue "Sustainable Precision Agriculture: Latest Advances and Prospects"

Simple Summary Livestock farming is experiencing growing levels of automation due to the high number of repetitive tasks requiring little skill and high workloads. Automatic feeding systems for ruminants represent a valuable option for farmers to reduce their daily workload and increase animal welfare and production quality. The farmers’ perspectiv...

The current tools that allow the application of precision agriculture in livestock systems are undergoing growing diffusion. Given the significant share of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the livestock sector, this study investigates the potential contribution of precision agriculture technologies to animal farming sustainabi...

Simulation systems have become essential tools for both researchers and virtual laboratory experiments. In the Agri-food-chain, SimAgri, a driving simulator for tractors and operating machines, has been developed for precision agriculture (PA) research and to train professional farm drivers. Using the virtual environment of the simulator, the influ...

The AUTOFEED project (https://autofeed.crea.gov.it) is a farm management project aiming to point out the advantages and disadvantages of adopting automatic feeding systems (AFS) in cattle breeding. In this context, two surveys were carried out: one to investigate the market offer (in cooperation with manufacturers) and another to record the AFS use...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is a recognized emerging zoonosis, and sporadic autochthonous cases, unrelated to travel in endemic areas, are rising in industrialized countries. Pigs and wild boars are considered HEV main reservoirs. The ongoing One Health project “Improving understanding of autochthonous Hepatitis E transmission routes: a focus...

Misappreciating the benefits of precision agriculture (PA) is among the main reasons for its present low adoption rate. Concerning crop spraying, the present study focuses on analyzing the economic and ergonomic advantages of adopting precision spraying technology and the approach a farmer must perform for precision spraying tasks.The study starts...

Soil conservative practices, including no-tillage and sod-seeding, reduce energy inputs and prevent organic matter from exposure to oxidation and hinder losses of moisture; for these reasons, they could represent a solution for crop cultivation not only in water stress conditions.The satellite image acquisition technology allows to access databases...

Protected horticulture is a highly energy-consuming sector where optimizing energy use and cost for heating facilities is strategic to achieve high environmental and economic sustainability. The paper main aim is to present the use of a heat pump (HP) for basal heating as an alternative technology to produce bedding plants. The experimental test wa...

Nell'agricoltura di precisione l’eccessiva presenza di scheletro compromette l’operatività delle seminatrici, sia in termini di efficacia del lavoro che di integrità strutturale. Prove di semina sono state effettuate in parcelle a diverso grado di pietrosità con una seminatrice appositamente sensorizzata per verificare la possibilità di monitorarne...

Dopo il lancio nel 2014 del telescopico ibrido, il costruttore cuneese approda nel mondo dell’elettrico con il compatto e-WORKER da 2.500 kg di capacità massima di sollevamento e un’altezza di carico di 4,8 m, alimentato da un gruppo batteria al piombo acido con una potenza massima di 66 kW (90 CV). Si riportano le caratteristiche della versione a...

Soil amendments (e.g., compost) require uniform incorporation in the soil profile to benefit plants. However, machines may not mix them uniformly throughout the upper soil layer commonly explored by plant roots. The study focuses on using image texture analysis to determine the level of mixing uniformity in the soil following the passage of two kin...

Lo scopo di questo volume è raccogliere e condividere le considerazioni emerse durante le attività progettuali svolte sui sistemi automatici per la distribuzione dell’unifeed. Pertanto, oltre agli aspetti tecnici e tecnologici relativi alla preparazione della razione e alle soluzioni che il mercato rende attualmente disponibili, sono illustrati anc...

Water shortages have increasingly become a global issue due to the acceleration of climate change. The consumption of freshwater can be reduced to a minimum using water irrigation techniques that are based on conservative methods. For example, one of these is precision irrigation, or PI, which uses advanced digital technology to regulate the amount...

Sowing is critical for successful crop establishment and productivity, particularly in precision agriculture management strategies. However, topsoil characteristics directly affect agribusiness maximization (i.e., crop-yield increase, machinery efficiency, operating-cost reduction) even in the most advanced farming management techniques. The excess...

Presentation held at the EIMA Campus 2022

Sono diversi i motivi che spingono l’interesse dei costruttori verso le attrezzature elettriche: maggiore capacità di controllo, riduzione di sprechi, aumento dell’efficienza, più leggerezza, flessibilità ed economicità nell’utilizzo. Un mercato che si sta espandendo soprattutto su soluzioni a bassa potenza, ma che in futuro si rivolgerà anche a po...

The aim of this study was to assess technical-productive aspects of dairy farms equipped with automatic milking system (AMS) in Northern and Central Italy. A survey was carried out on 62 dairy farms selected through convenience sampling with the following inclusion criteria: adoption of robotic milking for at least 1 yr and ability to provide farm...

The optimization of energy input on agricultural farms, such as through improved fuel consumption, is currently under investigation in agricultural mechanization research with the aim of achieving economic and environmental goals. In previous research, we developed a simplified algorithm focused on defining the most efficient tractor–implement comb...

Among its many functions, soil represents the active natural medium for plant growth. Different soils have various structural characteristics, that correspond to their qualitative parameters in terms of physical, chemical, and biological fertility. Because of their extremely slow formation processes, soils are also a non-renewable resource, easily...

La crescente attenzione alle tematiche ambientali ha spinto anche nel settore agricolo lo sviluppo di sistemi di propulsione elettrica. Il più alto costo d’acquisto e la limitata autonomia delle batterie rappresentano ancora le maggiori criticità, che potranno essere superate grazie alla spinta innovativa dei costruttori. Per contro il costo del kW...

The application of precision agriculture (PA) in the management of agricultural practices is increasingly widespread, especially in crops with higher income such as vineyards. The organization of agricultural operations conducted with precision approaches, provides that the machines may have the information collected from previous years (yield and...

This paper aims to study the efficiency of two different transformation processes. The verification of the suitability of the chosen digital methodologies for the monitoring of drying processes and their standardization was also considered. A drying (with fan active at the top: M1), and a dehydration (with fan always active at the bottom: M2) micro...

In agricultural activities, the tractor driver is subjected to many stresses from physical and attentional points of view. Driving tractors requires the operator to pay great awareness both during the agricultural operation and when handling the vehicle. The seat and the driving place play an important role by representing the interface between the...

Narrow-track tractors are spread worldwide, being used in important agricultural sectors such as vineyards, orchards, horticultural cultivation, greenhouses and nursery. The architecture of these tractors and their basic structure have remained practically unchanged in the last decades. Despite this, their construction can differ considering the or...

The agricultural soil is a highly variable and complex active medium for the plant’s life. Due to prolonged formation processes, it must be considered as a non-renewable resource, easily subject to many degradative processes, in most cases due to human activities. These activities lead to the definition of “anthropic” soils, often labelled also as...

Highlights Improvement of tractor traction provides better field efficiency. Drawbar pull increased with tire footprint length. Drawbar pull decreased with increasing tire footprint volume and depth. 3D footprint parameters, which the 2D footprint do not contain, affected the drawbar pull significantly. The ANN highlighted the relation adequately....

Parallel transformation tests on pineapple slices using two micro drying plants (M1 and M2) operating with solar energy were carried out. Method M1 consisted of an active fan at the top, whose ventilation rate depended on the internal temperature. Method M2 had a continuously working fan at the bottom. The dehydration performance of these two micro...

In olive oil extraction processes, different operating methods used for the preparation of olive pastes significantly affect their rheological characteristics, as well as the extraction yields and qualitative characteristics of the oils. To enhance and improve the characteristics of high-quality EVOOs (Extra Virgin Olive Oils), milling technologies...

The evaluation of the canopy in orchard cultivation is a key aspect for the main cultivation techniques, such as pruning, thinning, harvesting, production and improved fruit quality. The possibility of having a periodic screening of the state of development of the vegetation can be of practical support to growers. Research on the application of pre...

At the CREA research facility of Treviglio (Bergamo, Italy), to provide farmers with valuable hints for the transition from conventional to precision agriculture, information on crop production dynamics (Maize and Triticale) has been obtained using real-time soil mapping (resistivity technique) and production quality and quantity monitoring with a...

In this work, basil plants were fertilized with 0, 2.5 mM and 10 mM nitrogen (with different NO3−/NH4+ ratios), and then monitored using a low-power technique based on an optical leaf meter and a low-cost RGB sensor interfaced with an Arduino UNO board. The study aimed to investigate possible relationships between the concentration of some plant co...

AB - Irrigation accounts for 46% of world food production using systems designed to apply water uniformly. However, non-uniform field combinations of soil parameters give justification to apply water variably across a field (VRI). Therefore, a sensor-based irrigation scheduling is necessary to determine the optimal timing and amount of irrigation t...

One of the main questions facing precision agriculture is the evaluation of different algorithms for the delineation of homogeneous management zones. In the present study, a new approach based on the use of time series of satellite imagery, collected during two consecutive growing seasons, was proposed. Texture analysis performed using the Gray-Lev...

The success of the use of wastewater in the irrigation depends on a wealth of factors. These include the amount of solids in the wastewater or its filtrate, the ability of the suspended material to form biofilms, the pressure of the water in the system, the type of filters and emitters, and age of the systems. Digestate from crop biomass and manure...

Strengthening of Italian organic durum wheat production system: results of "BIODURUM" project. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the “BioDurum” project addressed different topics with the aim of defining innovative processes for organic farming systems focused on durum wheat. These processes are designed to ensure i) adequate income for organic...

Accurate estimates of canopy cover (CC) are central for a wide range of forestry studies. As direct measurements are impractical, indirect optical methods have often been used to estimate CC from the complement of gap fraction measurements obtained with restricted-view sensors. In this short note we evaluated the influence of the image pixel resolu...

Over the past years, in the agricultural field, geo-localization has been introduced in order to develop specific farming processes, optimize resources, and reduce environmental pollution. Researchers have found alternative driving methods to traditional ones, such as assisted and semi-automatic driving. The aim of this study was to monitor the mus...

Agricultural practices that make use of variable-rate (VR) distribution, introduced by precision agriculture (PA), are based on many points of variability which obtain different and modular effects that can affect the efficacy and environmental impact of the treatment performed. The aim of the present research was to study the effect of different s...

The use of lubricants and hydraulic fluids of both mineral and synthetic origin in agricultural processes could have a deep impact on the environment as a result of their possible dispersion in the ground and aquifers. Replacing them with bio-based fluids, developed to provide good tribological properties and high biodegradability, could contribute...

Irrigation with wastewater can strongly contribute to the reduction of water abstraction in agriculture with an especial interest in arid and semiarid areas. However, its use can have drawbacks to both soil and micro-irrigation systems, especially when the total solids in the wastewater are high, such as in digestate liquid fractions (DLF) from pla...

The precise monitoring of the inner microclimate of a greenhouse implies an increase of the production costs following the expensive needed sensor arrays. Currently, there is availability of low-cost sensors and cards for data storage and processing, but their application in real scale facilities is still under study. This research aimed to find a...

The adoption of a new hydraulic fluid or lubricant in a productive process depends on performing tuning tests that require complex systems and often last as long as the normal lifetime of the oil itself. This is an important issue, since there is an intense activity of development of bio-based lubricants, with high biodegradability, intended to rep...

Protected horticulture is a high energy-demanding sector where the optimization of energy use and cost for heating facilities are strategic to achieve high environmental and economic sustainability of productions. The main aim of the work was to evaluate coaxial pipes, used for basal heating, as an alternative system for growing crops with small ca...

The general objective of the research is to contribute to a fewer impacting methods for pest and disease management in tree crops, optimizing the air flows in relation to the canopy characteristics, and reducing the risks of drift. The aim of the work was to assess the airflow rate of different axial fan configurations in order to reduce energy con...

Heavy drawbar work on cultivated soil is the most critical aspect for agricultural tractors after the impairment of efficiency resulting from wheel slippage. To investigate this aspect with specific reference to cultivated soils, the data of 100 tractors of varying engine power and weight were processed to obtain a regression equation as the starti...

Protected horticulture is a high energy-consuming sector in which the optimization of energy use and cost for heating facilities is strategic in achieving high environmental and economic sustainability of production. The main aim of the project was to evaluate the use of a heat pump for basal heating as an alternative technology to grow crops with...

Highlights Keywords: Biolubricant, Engine performance, High-oleic sunflower oil, Hydraulic lift, Lifting force, Power transmission. Lubricants are commonly used in agricultural activities involving machines. Keywords: Biolubricant, Engine performance, High-oleic sunflower oil, Hydraulic lift, Lifting force, Power transmission. To reduce lubricants...

Technical and operational assessment of a medium-capacity telehandler in a livestock farm

Driving on ice is still a risky activity. Research has investigated the factors contributing to the friction mechanism and has reported experimental studies of pneumatic tyres on ice in order to develop models that predict tractive and braking performance on ice/snow. Therefore, developing testing methods to obtain relevant experimental data for th...

The termination of a fruit orchard generates a considerable amount of residues that can be used as fuel in biomass-fired power plants. Various studies have explored the separate collection of the above-ground tree portion and the rootstock. The present work analyses the potential of complete-tree harvesting (aboveground biomass and rootstock) from...

Nowadays precision agriculture is undertaking a steep growth in terms of both, commercial products and research and development applications. This is rapidly changing the crop management system taking into grater consideration data acquisition and their elaboration, real-time or offline, to correctly consider the spatial and temporal variability of...

Aims: The diversity and the geographical distribution of swine papillomaviruses are virtually unknown. The occurrence and the diversity of swine papillomavirus (PV) were therefore investigated in pig slurry collected in Italy, to contribute towards filling this gap in knowledge. Methods and results: Twenty-two slurry samples underwent analysis b...

Farming activities cause operators to experience whole body vibration (WBV), which may result in back injuries. Studies have shown that despite a wide variability when operating a tractor, the accelerations arising from “ground input” have similar spectral trends making it possible to simplify and standardise the driver comfort testing procedures....

Lubrication effectiveness is of paramount importance for the durability of machine components and efficient transmission of power. In addition to reducing the wear and friction of moving parts, lubricants remove potentially damaging heat and impurities and reduce the oxidation and corrosion of components. In agricultural tractors, lubricant oils ar...

Using the pruning residues of woody crops can be beneficial in many ways (e.g., excellent energy balance, a net reduction in pollutant emission and a positive contribution to global warming control). This article describes the background work and development of a new support tool that will allow the user to know the amount and quality of pruning re...

Weed competition is a major constrain in both organic and non-organic cropping systems. Previous reports on wheat showed that the crop competitive ability against weeds can strongly be improved by a proper management of the plant spatial arrangement. In grain legumes, weed management is frequently achieved by delaying sowing time, which however red...

The amount of weeds and the composition of its population can influence wheat grain yield and its quality, especially in organic farming systems, and have implication for the management of the system in space and time. Thus, knowing the weed flora traits with precise and on time reading are important factors for agronomic management both in convent...

Italian wine-making covers 18.4% of global production and represents the world's largest production. Cultivation of the vineyards foresees the winter pruning necessary for preparation of the next year's production. The annual pruned biomass (1–3 t ha⁻¹) is considered waste and is managed by shredding or burning. The possibility of taking advantage...

Fruit harvesting trucks are used to easy and speed-up the work of agricultural operators. These vehicles are provided with a moving cargo bed, which can be raised up to 3 meters from the ground so that workers are closer to the plants top. Due to factors like height of centre of gravity and operation on soft and irregular soil, these vehicles prese...

Greenhouse cultivation in Italy represents an important production sector within the horticultural sector, with strong economic importance. Protected crops in the Mediterranean basin cover more than 40,000 hectares (ISMEA2016). Regarding volume, the regions that play a predominant role in Italian greenhouse cultivation are Campania (25.74%), Sicily...

Although the automatic feeding system (AFS) is not the sole method to achieve precision feeding in dairy cows, its adoption allows a novel way to manage the daily feeding distribution that includes impacts on feed intake rhythm, leftover, animal behaviour, labour share and barn design. Moreover, the possible interactions with other automatic system...

Within the framework provided by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture with AGROENER project (http://agroener.crea.gov.it/), a modified equation for the assessment of greenhouse energy demand was developed. As a matter of fact, in Italy, almost 30.000 heated greenhouse production sites undergo variety of climate conditions. With particular reference...

The dynamic behaviour of greenhouse microclimate is a combination of physical processes involving energy transfer (solar radiation and heat transfer) and mass balance (water vapour and CO2 fluxes) at varying of outside environmental conditions. In Italy, 52.3% of greenhouse production sites are placed in the North and in the Centre of the Country a...

In Europe, there is a large surface of land cultivated with fruit trees (i.e. vineyards, olive and fruit orchards) providing valuable amounts of woody biomass from pruning and plant removal at the end of the plantation cycle. Such biomass is generally burnt in open air or shred on topsoil. In few cases, this material is used as fuel for biomass pow...

The primary purpose of agricultural tractors is to perform drawbar work that is mathematically defined by the pull force and forward speed of the machine. An ideal tractor converts all the fuel energy into useful work at the drawbar. This implies the maximization of both engine fuel and drive train mechanical efficiencies allowing the optimization...

Professional drivers have been found to be at a high risk of developing low back pain due to prolonged sitting and vehicle vibration. In a previous survey carried out on 1,155 tractor drivers, tractor vibration and/or incorrect posture while driving were found to cause low back disorders in more than 80% of the interviewed drivers. In this context,...

Promoting energy efficiency in agriculture means supporting economic growth by reducing both pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while minimizing waste and the inefficient use of natural resources. Biomethane presents an interesting option given its possibility to be produced from livestock waste or other organic residues, with GHG emissio...

Feature at a glance: Although a lack of safety features is often reported as the most important factor in tractor accidents, an accident per se is the outcome of many elements, including the amount of attentional control operators exert over the driving task. The lack of active attentional control is sometimes referred as “absentmindedness,” and ma...