Luca Corelli Grappadelli

University of Bologna | UNIBO · Department of Agri-Food Sciences and Technologies

Accurate, continuous and reliable data gathering and recording about crop growth and state of health, by means of a network of autonomous sensor nodes that require minimal management by the farmer will be essential in future Precision Agriculture. In this paper, a low-cost multi-channel sensor-node architecture is proposed for the distributed monit...

Chestnut crop is regaining its fame worldwide with powerful investment perspectives. Unluckily the climate change effects are posing high threat to its cultivation with less available resources and increased production cost both in traditional and specialized orchards. Additionally, the chestnut physiological knowledge is still limited, especially...

In Italy, peaches are paid according to size, color and appearance. Real time fruit harvestquality informationcould support growers and the whole fruitchain improving segmentedselectionfor consumers as well as to increase growers’income. In this study, a computer vision system was tested aiming to quantifyingand sizingpeachesin bins at harvest time...

Image processing through the implementation of manually coded algorithms has been adopted to detect fruit damage during post-harvest operations. This study tested convolution neural networks with “You Only Look Once” (YOLO) architecture using a commercial online platform to detect physiological disorders and ripening stage in ‘Abbé Fétel’ pear. Dis...

In highly solar irradiated areas, apple production can face challenges due to high evaporative water demands. Shading can be used to lower irrigation requirements and make apple growing more sustainable. In this trial, a white exclusion net (40% shading) integrated with rain protection was compared with a regular anti-hail black net (20% shading),...

Italy is one of the most important world chestnut producers. The majority of traditional sweet chestnut orchards are still non-irrigated since they are typically located in mountain-hill areas usually characterized by environmental conditions that are not limiting for the vegetative and reproductive growth of this fruit tree crop. Nowadays, the inc...

Fruit growth is a biophysical process that depends mainly on the daily balance between vascular (xylem and phloem) and transpiration flows. This work examines the seasonal and daily behaviour of apricot fruit growth as well as their vascular and transpiration flows. Seasonal patterns of the shoot and fruit growth, as well as fruit surface conductan...

Fruit growth is a complex mechanism resulting from biochemical and biophysical events leading water and dry matter to accumulate in the fruit tissues. Understanding how fruits choose their growth strategies can help growers optimizing their resource management for a more sustainable production and a higher fruit quality. This paper compares the gro...

Tree-ring annual growth and wood anatomical traits were used for the retrospective analysis of the impact of hydro-climatic conditions on the orchard irrigation management. Data were collected in the oldest (20 years), in full-production, orchards of Emilia-Romagna (Italy), one of the most important Italian Region for fruit production. Despite the...

The objective of this 2-year study (2017, 2019) was to evaluate the influence of photoselective nets on apple fruit growth, focusing on the initial fruit growth stages of “Pink Lady”. Trees were subjected to four photoselective nets (Blue, Red, White and Yellow) and a standard black one (serving as Control), resulting in 5 light environments (LE),...

Image processing through the implementation of manually coded algorithms has been adopted to detect fruit damage during post-harvest operations. This study tested convolution neural networks with “You Only Look Once” (YOLO) architecture using a commercial online platform to detect physiological disorders and ripening stage in ‘Abbé Fétel’ pear. Dis...

Photoselective nets were used to examine apple shoot physiology during dormancy and budbreak. Two trials were conducted: one in the field and one in controlled conditions. In the first, three colored nets (red, blue, and white, shading 20%) covered sections of single trees, leaving an empty portion as control, from December to April. The white net...

Climate change is leading to higher plant water requirements and rootstock can play a role in tree adaptation, since the more vigorous ones are also likely to be more stress resistant. Pear trees of the cv. Abbé Fetél grafted on BA29 (more vigorous) and SYDO (more dwarfing) quince were irrigated according to three different treatments: 110 C, 80 DI...

Although superficial scald (SS) is well characterized on apples, there are only a few insights concerning the influence that agronomic and management variability may have on the occurrence of this physiological disorder on pears. In this study, we aimed to improve our understanding of the effect of different preharvest factors on SS development usi...

This preliminary study investigated innovative materials as organic photovoltaic (OPV) plastic films for application in orchards. OPV, if placed above the hail net structure, might allow the orchard to become an energy source and to reduce its environmental impact. Moreover, thanks to their shading effect, OPV strips can reduce water needs of trees...

The sustainability of reducing light in apple orchards under well-watered (ww) and water stress (ws) conditions was evaluated for water relations, plant gas exchanges, fruit growth, yield determinants, and fruit quality over three years. A black (B) 28% shading net was compared with two different 50% shading nets: red (R) and white (W). Each net wa...

The present work focuses on studying the effect of preharvest treatments, such as different watering rates and nitrogen supplementation, on the postharvest physiology and quality of 'Rocha' pear. After harvest, pears were stored up to 5 months in refrigerated chambers with dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA). Besides physical properties such as siz...

Image processing has recently been adopted for fruit damage detection in post-harvest operations. Through the implementation of hard-coded feature extraction algorithms, high accuracy has been found. The present study tested the fast and operational convolution neural networks with "YOLO v3" architecture using the online platform Supervise.ly to de...

With the increase of population in the world, the demand for quality food is increasing too. In recent years, increasing demand and environmental factors have heavily influenced the agricultural production. Automation and robotics for fruit and vegetable production/monitoring have become the new standard. This paper discusses an autonomous Unmanned...

The use of secondary treated wastewater (STW) for irrigation is considered as a strategy to mitigate water shortage in summer periods. Unfortunately, the utilization of STW in agriculture is not exempt from environmental and health risks, being a potential source of toxic chemicals (e.g. heavy metals) and human pathogens (e.g. Salmonella spp. and E...

Stratification of spatial data into management classes is a common way of interpreting and managing spatial agricultural data. High-resolution environmental and crop production information was collected within a 2.2-ha apple orchard (Malus domestica cv. Gala) near Sydney, NSW, Australia. Classifying the block into management units using the environ...

To test the efficacy and sustainability of evaporative cooling, two blocks of a commercial ‘Fuji’ apple orchard in Medelana (Ferrara, Italy) were subjected to two irrigation regimes: drip irrigation alone (DRI) or, between July and August (the hottest period of the year), supplemented by overcanopy irrigation (OCI). Stem/leaf water potential, leaf...

In Italy, most of the traditional sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) orchards are still non-irrigated since they are located in mountain-hill areas with climate conditions that used to be optimal to sustain the vegetative and reproductive growth of this nut tree species. Nowadays, the increase of summer temperatures and the decrease of rainfall...

Image/video processing for fruit detection in the tree using hard-coded feature extraction algorithms has shown high accuracy on fruit detection during recent years. While accurate, these approaches even with high-end hardware are still computationally intensive and too slow for real-time systems. This paper details the use of deep convolution neur...

This work tests the possibility to monitor fruit growth as a potential physiological indicator for tree water status and productive performance in apple, for potential implementation in decision support systems for irrigation scheduling. Starting from 10 weeks after full bloom (WAFB), a wide range of plant water statuses was induced in a “Gala” app...

Rootstock vigor is well known to affect yield and productive performance in many fruit crops and the dwarfing trait is often the preferred choice for modern orchard systems thanks to its improved productivity and reduced canopy volume. This work investigates the different physiological responses induced by rootstock vigor on cherry, by comparing sh...

Despite the availability of whole genome sequences of apple and peach, there has been a considerable gap between genomics and breeding. To bridge the gap, the European Union funded the FruitBreedomics project (March 2011 to August 2015) involving 28 research institutes and private companies. Three complementary approaches were pursued: (i) tool and...

The effect of different light environments on ‘Imperial Gala’ apple yield and several physiological parameters were evaluated in 2013 by placing over the trees nets with different levels of shading and colour (black, 20% shading, red and white, 50% shading). A fourth plot was left uncovered. Each net was combined with two irrigation treatments for...

Il Gruppo di Eco fisiologia del Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie di Bologna già da tempo ha proposto un'innovazione di concetto nel campo dell'irrigazione: quella di irrigare usando il frutto come indicatore della necessità idrica della pianta.

necessario quindi mettere in atto tutte le strategie possibili per migliora-re l'effi cienza d'uso dell'acqua attraverso l'applicazione di approcci irrigui sempre più precisi. Inoltre, l'uso oculato dell'ir-rigazione può diventare uno strumento chiave per gestire alcuni aspetti quali-tativi della produzione, come l'aumento della sostanza secca e il...

Leaf photosynthetic performance of a new red-skinned inter-specific hybrid pear variety called ‘PremP009’ (PIQA®BOO®) is presently unknown and therefore was compared to the Asian pear variety ‘Hosui’. The seasonal growth patterns and the final dry matter accumulation of all tree components were also investigated for both genotypes in their first ye...

Mean (± Standard Error, SE) midday stem water potential (SWP) considering the plant type (Homogeneous ‘Hosui’ (HH), Homogeneous ‘PremP009’ (HP) and Mixed (M)). Each bar represents the mean ± SE of 12 replicates of the three plant types. Treatments were separated with a one-way ANOVA and compared by the Student-Newman-Keuls test.

Relationship between final tree dry weight and total leaf area of ‘PremP009’ and ‘Hosui’ homogenous plant (HP and HH) and mixed plant (M). Each point represents an entire tree.

Sweet cherry trees of the cultivars ‘Black Star’ and ‘Vera’ were subjected to two different irrigation regimes: commercial control and 30% reduced irrigation. Stem water potentials, leaf gas exchanges as well as fruit vascular flows were monitored before (pit hardening stage) and after (cell expansion stage) veraison. Also, fruit growth was monitor...

Only very little is published on simple tools for monitoring seasonal information relating plant water status to fruit growth/yield in horticultural crops. This paper analyses data recorded in 2014 from the end of cytokinesis (early July) on ‘Abbè Fetel’ trees grafted on four different rootstocks (Farold, Sydo®, MH and MC) grown in the Fratelli Nav...

Three photoselective, 50% shading, nets (red, white, blue) and a black, 20% shading, commercial hail net (CTRL) were placed on 6 apple trees (Malus domestica ‘Rosy Glow’) each, during summer 2016. Total and specific sap flows were monitored, using the thermal balance approach, on 4 branches per treatment at different phenological stages. In additio...

Background: Texture is important in the preferences of apple consumers. Of the pre-harvest factors affecting fruit quality and especially texture, altitude and subsequent climatic conditions are crucial, determining differences in the physiological mechanisms of fruit growth, ripening stage and chemical composition, as demonstrated by several stud...

Key message In drought-stressed apple, leaf area decrease and stem growth cessation increase are key determinants of drought avoidance. Both the genotype and its possible phenotypic plasticity contribute to the variability of responses. Abstract Under soil water restriction, plant growth is impaired by the indirect negative impact on plant carbon b...

UMR AGAP - équipe AFEF - Architecture et fonctionnement des espèces fruitières UMR SYSTEM

A protocol and a related physiological tool to discriminate drought tolerant apple genotypes in a reliable, fast way were assessed. Trials were carried out in two years and two sites: Bologna (Italy) and Montpelier (France). Potted trees from 17 genotypes grafted on Pajam 2 rootstocks were used. After sufficient shoot development, three pots genoty...

Research has shown that pomefruit orchard production can be forecast. Basic information about orchard characteristics as tree density, fruit load and fruit size can translate into useful information on orchard production. In most cases the complete flow of this information is only available after harvest. Precision horticulture integrates this info...

The detection of leaf functionality is of pivotal importance for plant scientists from both theoretical and practical point of view. Leaves are the sources of dry matter and food, and they sequester CO2 as well. Under the perspective of climate change and primary resource scarcity (i.e. water, fertilizers and soil), assessing leaf photo-assimilatio...

The effects of innovative techniques for orchard light management on the sensory properties and quality of apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) fruit were measured using sensory and instrumental techniques. In the first experiment, ‘Rosy Glow’ fruit, thinned chemically or by shading, were compared. In the second experiment, ‘Fuji’ fruit were grown unde...

Training and pruning protocols are developed to improve orchard profitability, especially yield quantity and quality, and regular bearing. This paper gathers two sets of results in the apple. At the whole-tree scale, we showed that the training system efficiently affects fruit quality in a given year, but its effect on regular bearing depends on cu...

Sensory analysis performed by trained assessors or consumers is the only direct approach to measure perceptible properties of food products and to interpret consumers responses. Over the last 30 years different sensory techniques, alone or in combination with instrumental characterization of related physical and chemical parameters, have been propo...

Kiwifruit production requires high amounts of water as this species is very sensitive to drought stress, especially during the initial stages of fruit growth and strategies to reduce the water use of Actinidia orchards are highly needed. This work investigates the physiological effects of reduced water supply to 'Hayward' kiwifruit vines to test th...

Export Date: 20 February 2014, Source: Scopus

Light quality (sunlight spectrum) management promises to provide a new technological alternative to sustainable production in horticultural crops. However, little information exists about physiological and technological aspects on light quality management in fruit crops. Sunlight composition changes widely in orchard canopies, inducing different pl...

Export Date: 20 February 2014, Source: Scopus