Mauro De Feudis

• PhD
• Assistant Professor at University of Bologna

This study investigated seasonal changes in litter and soil organic carbon contents of deciduous and coniferous forests at two altitudes (500 and 1000 m a.s.l.), which were used as proxies for temperature changes. To this aim, adjacent pine (P500 and P1000) and deciduous forests (downy oak forest at 500 m a.s.l. and beech forest at 1000 m a.s.l., D...

Ink disease caused by the soil-borne Phytophthora cambivora and Phytophthora cinnamomi is threatening sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) groves in Europe. This study aims to explore whether soil morphology and its related properties influence the development of chestnut ink disease considering the whole soil depth. In C. sativa stand in Northern Ital...

Purpose Floods are considered the major threat of soil suitability loss for agricultural purposes in floodplain agroecosystems. The present work questioned (i) how does the flooding affect soil of agricultural lands? (ii) can the mixing of deposited sediments with the covered soil be considered a suitable practice to keep soil functionality? Mater...

Boron (B) is vital for optimal crop growth and soil health, with its distribution influenced by several factors such as soil properties, environmental conditions, and land management practices. Therefore, understanding its distribution is crucial for developing effective soil management strategies. Currently, there is a lack of information regardin...

There is an urgent need by the European Union to establish baseline levels for many widespread pollutants and to set out specific levels for these under the Zero pollution action plan. To date, few systematic reviews, superseded by bibliometric analyses, have explored this issue. Even less research has been carried out to compare the efficacy of th...

Pedodiversity is generally neglected in studies concerning soil organic carbon (SOC). Therefore, this investigation aimed to explore the effect of soil types on the following: (1) soil processes related to organic matter (OM) dynamics along the profile; and (2) the microbial community and functionality within the uppermost horizon. Humic Dystrudept...

The academic history of soil science in the Emilia Romagna Region dates back to the beginning of XIX century and sees its first master in Filippo Re (1763–1817). Filippo Re was holder of the first public chair in Agriculture in Bologna. Several illustrious people, such as Carlo Alberto Pichat (1799–1878) and Gino Cugini (1852–1907), then took over...

Forest soils contain a large amount of organic carbon (OC); therefore, small changes in these ecosystems have effects on climate. In this study, variation in the quantity of C pools that occurred in one year in the soil of temperate forests managed by two farms in the Apennine chain (Emilia-Romagna Region) was investigated using elemental and isoto...

The implementation of a protocol for supporting a reliable soil C market is needed. This paper aims to propose a methodology for evaluating soil organic C (SOC) stock changes for the C credit market. A 15-year-old chestnut orchard (CO) and a chestnut coppice (CC) as reference land were selected in the northern part of the Apennine chain (Italy). Th...

The Po plain (Italy) is one of the largest floodplains in Europe that needs environmental restoration. To achieve this goal, the knowledge of the 'environment' (water, bed sediments and vegetation) of the canals crossing such floodplain is necessary. The water flow of the canals was kept low for hydraulic safety purposes from October to March (NIR)...

The identification of mountainous areas suitable for chestnut stands for fruit production (CSFP) is raising increasing interest among researchers. This work aimed to (i) identify the areas suitable for CSFP shown in a land suitability map easy to read by land planners, and (ii) propose a remote-sensing-based methodology able to identify the lands c...

Pedodiversity is considered the cornerstone of biodiversity. This work aimed to (1) assess pedodiversity according to vegetation, topographic factors, and lithology and to (2) identify the major soil-forming factors on soil organic matter (SOM) stock at a 0–30 cm depth. These goals were reached using data from 147 georeferenced soil profiles distri...

The formidable ability of soil to store carbon has attracted an increasing number of studies, but few of them included soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration as part of a carbon balance assessment in the agroecosystem. This raises some interesting questions: 1) how orchards conversion increase soil capacity to mitigate the green–house gases (GHG)...

In soil organic carbon (SOC) survey, the role of sampling approach is crucial and should not be underestimated. In this sense, the appropriateness of soil sampling by pedogenic horizons (PGH) and fixed depth layers (FDL) in forest is still a field of debate. The present work aimed to: (a) study the spatial variability of SOC concentrations and C st...

Purpose The existence of black horizons (BHs) is often highlighted in European soils, and in the Po River plain of northern Italy. Nevertheless, BH chronological frameworks and genetic models are still debated. The present study investigated the genesis of BHs in the eastern Po Plain where they are buried at various depths. Materials and methods S...

BACKGROUND Large amounts of chemical fertilizers are still currently used to compensate the soil nutrients scarcity in order to increase and sustain crop yield with consequent rising of environmental pollution and health problems. To mitigate these environmental risks, fertilizers with slow‐release behaviours have been developed. The aim of this st...

Temperate soils are threatened by degradation and soil organic matter (SOM) loss due to a combination of geomorphology, soil types, and anthropic pressure. In 54 sites in Northern Italy, characterized by different land uses, climates, geological substrates, and soils, we assessed (i) the soil quality, (ii) the SOM accumulation/degradation patterns,...

The study of Technosols development, spatial distribution and physicochemical characteristics is becoming more and more important in the Anthropocene Era. The aim of the present study was to assess soil features and potential heavy metal release risk of soils developed on different mine tailing types after the waste disposal derived from mining act...

In this study, new non-invasive soil moisture sensors have been installed and calibrated at three experimental sites. The sensors have been easily installed and data is regularly transmitted to an on-line platform. At the specific conditions of the sites, the measurements represent average soil moisture over an area of around 5 hectares down to 25...

Industrial farming without considering soil biological features could lead to soil degradation. We aimed to evaluate the biochemical properties (BPs) and biological fertility (BF) of different soils under processing tomato cultivation; estimate the BF through the calculation of a simplified BF index (BFIs); determine if the crop was affected by BP...

Sustainable agricultural management is needed to promote carbon (C) sequestration in soil, prevent loss of soil fertility, and reduce the release of greenhouse gases. However, the influence of agronomic practices on soil C sequestration depends on the existing pedoclimatic features. We characterized the soils of three farms far away each other in t...

Land capability and suitability maps are useful tools for soil resource conservation. This study aimed to build land capability and suitability maps using a multi-thematic approach by GIS in a salt-affected coastal area of Italy. Topographic, morphological, geological, pedological delineations and land cover maps, remote sensing image and climate d...

Chestnut plantations are worldwide distributed and they are often subjected to intensive management practices such as the removal of the organic residues from the soil surface. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of such practices on soil properties at different depths and on nutrient contents in chestnut leaves. To reach our goal, 6...

Recently, several hectares of abandoned chestnut forests (ACF) were recovered into chestnut stands for nut or timber production; however, the effects of such practice on soil mineral horizon properties are unknown. This work aimed to (1) identify the better chestnut forest management to maintain or to improve the soil properties during the ACF reco...

Both altitude and vegetation are known to affect the amount and quality of soil organic matter (SOM) and the size and activity of soil microbial biomass. However, when altitude and vegetation changes are combined, it is still unclear which one has a greater effect on soil chemical and biochemical properties. With the aim of clarifying this, we test...

We tested the over time effect of different selenium doses [50 (D50) and 100 (D100) g ha−1 of Se as Na2SeO3] on a soil under corn (Zea mays L.) cultivation. The soil was sampled 18 (t1), 48 (t2) and 59 (t3) days after the addition of Se and analysed for total Se, organic carbon and nitrogen, water-extractable organic carbon, available P, microbial...

To improve knowledge on salt leaching suitability on different soils, in Arenosols and Cambisols croplands in the coastal area of Ravenna (Italy), soil samples were collected in the non-irrigation winter period and irrigation summer period. Concurrently, waters of the canal network were also investigated. Soil samples were analyzed for pH, carbonat...

We evaluated the influence of the rhizosphere, soil depth, and altitude on the amount and nature of the density separated soil organic matter (SOM) pools. Samples were collected from the A and AB horizons of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forest soils located at two altitudes (800 and 1000 m) along 1° of latitudinal gradient in central Italy,...

This work aimed to investigate the effect of selenium (Se) and irrigation on the grain yield, on the forms of Se, phenols, carotenes and on some antioxidant activities of maize (Zea mays L.) grains. To reach this goal, a two-year experiment was undertaken. Maize was fertigated with sodium selenite at the rate of 200 g Se ha−1 and grown under two wa...

Simple Summary Agroforestry is a practice, which consists of having orchard, crops and animals in the same land. This system shows many sustainability advantages like reductions of land use, permitting to obtain two productions (vegetal and animal) in the same area. Moreover, if the animals are well managed, they exert a double action by fertilizin...

Selenium (Se) is a trace element necessary for both human and livestock nutrition. To increase Se human intake, soil Se fertilizations were performed but the fate of the added Se remains unclear. The present research aims to: (1) determine the influence of Se fertilization on the fractionation of Se in soil; (2) assess the influence of water availa...

Soil magnetic properties are sensitive indicators of pedogenetic processes. Although many of the processes that increase soil magnetism are well documented, the role of microbial communities and the metabolic characteristics of Fe-reducing bacteria are still largely unknown. For this work, two soils with contrasting magnetic properties were identif...

This study evaluated soil properties along a small transect in the Apennines chain (central Italy). Using latitude and altitude as surrogates for temperature differences, three locations at different latitudes were selected for the study. At each location, two altitudes were selected (800 and 1000 m). The study was conducted by contrasting chemical...

Foliar fertilization with selenium (Se) may well be beneficial in increasing the nutritional and qualitative values of food in Se-deficient regions such as the Mediterranean Basin, and may contribute to an increase in drought resistance in plants. The present study has considered detachment force, flesh firmness, pigmentation, fresh and dry weight,...

Compared with annual crop cultivation, tree groves might represent a relevant land‐use system to improve C sequestration, but few data are available to support this hypothesis. To evaluate the potential of olive tree (Olea europaea L., 1753) cultivation to store soil organic C (SOC), we assessed (i) the distribution of organic C in active (water‐ex...

Water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) is the most dynamic and bioavailable fraction of the soil organic matter pool. Although the litter floor is considered the main source of WEOM, roots also release a great amount of labile organic compounds through rhizodeposition processes. This makes the rhizosphere, the small soil volume in proximity to the...

Climate warming is predicted to raise the mean global temperature by 1 °C in the next 50 years, and this change is believed to be capable of affecting soil organic matter cycling and nutrient availability. With the aim of increasing knowledge on the response of forest soils to the ongoing climate change, we used altitude as a proxy for temperature...

Background and Aims The activity of roots and associated microorganisms plays a key-role in soil formation and evolution, but we lack of knowledge on the quality and extent of the “rhizosphere effect” in the different soil horizons. The aim of this study was to assess the interactions between rhizosphere processes and genetic horizons in a forest (...