Marcello Militello

• PhD
• Researcher at Freelance Researcher - Agronomist

Irrigation management in Greenhouse Nursery Production (GNP) is based on empiric methods based on farmer personal experiences with over-irrigation results. The effects of irrigation volume and daily application were studied in a pot experiment carried out on rooted cuttings in a greenhouse The irrigation volume treatment was performed on Full and r...

St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a perennial herb able to produce water-soluble active ingredients (a.i.), mostly in flowers, with a wide range of medicinal and biotechnological uses. However, information about the ability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to affect its biomass accumulation, flower production and concentration of a.i....

Aerial parts of Artemisia arborescens were collected from different sites of the Mediterranean area (south-western Algeria and southern Italy) and the chemical composition of its essential oil (EO) extracted by hydrodistillation was studied by both gas chromatography (GC) equipped with an enantioselective capillary column and GC-mass spectrometry (...

Following their evolutionary process, many plants have oriented their secondary metabolism towards the production of complex molecules, which often show an apparent protective function against pests (insects, fungi, viruses, but also competing plants). The identification and the study of such compounds could play a significant role in the frame of...

Leaf area (LA) is an important biometrical parameter recorded for evaluating plant growth in field and greenhouse experiments. In the present study a LA estimation model was developed for myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) pot plants under different water regimes, using linear measurements of leaf length (L) and width (W). The aim of the work was to estab...

In nursery activities the highest environmental impact is due to the high water use for plants irrigation. A significant water saving can be obtained by irrigation strategy avoiding plant drought stress and maintaining high quality production. Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.), is an evergreen shrub typical of the Mediterranean area, commonly cultivated...

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) is commonly grafted on seedling rootstocks in Sicilian orchards. Seedling production is characterized by low germination percentage and velocity and slow plant growth. The aim of this study was to evaluate loquat seed germination of Sicilian and international cultivars. Seeds from 11 cultivars (‘Algerie’, ‘Bianco...

Rosmarinus officinalis is a Mediterranean shrub playing an important role in natural Mediterranean vegetation and as a cultivated herb. However, few information is available on the effect of N availability on R. officinalis growth. In addition, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi could affect both leaves emission and total N uptake of R. officinalis....

ISSN 2385-0647

Poysean (Euphorbia ×lomi Rauh) has been introduced in the Mediterranean countries as an ornamental plant for indoor uses. When used outdoor, few information is available about its ability to withstand the Mediterranean temperature extremes. An experiment in an open stand was performed to evaluate poysean tolerance to the winter and summer temperatu...

Medicinal and aromatic plants are major crops of domestic and industrial interest. Medicinal and aromatic plants are increasingly organically grown to enhance profitability. However, the presence of weeds may lead to a decrease in both yield and quality. Therefore, nonchemical methods of weed control are needed. In this study, mechanical weeding, f...

In Sicily, MAPs have been used and cultivated for centuries, with many uses ranging from the preparation of fresh or stored food items, flavoring of foods and beverages, home-made human or animal therapy or even aesthetical purposes. Many of them grow spontaneously and are claimed to play a significant role in land biodiversity. The widespread beli...

Artemisia arborescens L. has gained a strong importance worldwide due to its many industrial uses and it has been recently considered as ornamental plant. A major constraint to its widespread cultivation is represented, by far, by the scarce availability of high-quality plant material for field establishment; hence, development of a fast and effect...

Essential oils from aerial parts of several Artemisia arborescens L. populations, collected in five different localities of Sicily, were analyzed by gas chromatograph–flame ionization detector (GC–FID) and GC–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) in order to study the chemical composition and its variability due to phenological stage. Forty-three compounds, ac...

Although many papers have been devoted to the study of coriander fruits' aromatic pattern, many differences show up according not only to the provenance of seeds, but also to the analytical methods chosen. In our work, samples from one coriander small-seeded biotype have been analysed, verifying the differences between (1) the oil extracted by mean...

This study was undertaken to characterize the essential oil (EO) of Artemisia arborescens growing wild in Sicily. EO, extracted by steam distillation, was examined for its chemical composition and for its capability to inhibit some food-borne pathogen bacteria. A total of 43 compounds (13 monoterpene hydrocarbons, 14 oxygenated monoterpenes, 10 ses...