Silvia Fogliatto

University of Turin | UNITO · Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences

Rice cultivation in Italy is usually performed by direct seeding in flooded or in dry fields. Mechanical rice transplanting is a technique that can help control weeds and improve rice competition. To test the feasibility of the technique for different rice varieties in Italy, a study was conducted in the Lombardy region (northwest Italy), from 2016...

Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is an effective water-saving practice for rice cultivation that may however promote nitrogen (N) losses compared to continuous flooding (CF). The interaction between water, crop residue and N fertilization management can influence the contribution of different N sources to plant uptake. We hypothesized that microb...

Over the last 30 years, many studies have surveyed weed vegetation on arable land. The ‘Arable Weeds and Management in Europe’ (AWME) database is a collection of 36 of these surveys and the associated management data. Here, we review the challenges associated with combining disparate datasets and explore some of the opportunities for future researc...

An index-based approach for a comprehensive evaluation of the potential risk for active substances and their mixtures to impact the environment was developed. Some of the indices considered already exist (PRISW-1, Priority Index), while others were created ex novo from indicators available on open-source platforms (PESTi, ECOi, AGROi). These indice...

Questions Two scientific disciplines, vegetation science and weed science, study arable weed vegetation, which has seen a strong diversity decrease in Europe over the last decades. We compared two collections of plot‐based vegetation records originating from these two disciplines. The aim was to check the suitability of the collections for joint an...

Leaching of glyphosate and AMPA as affected by the time elapsed between the spraying and first leaching event was studied on large-scale lysimeters in a two-year study. The leaching events were induced by irrigation interventions able to deliver 336 L, equivalent to a rainfall of 40 mm. Four groups of three lysimeters were randomly selected between...

In this work a novel nano-formulation is proposed to control leaching and volatilization of a broadly used herbicide, dicamba. Dicamba is subject to significant leaching in soils, due to its marked solubility, and to significant volatilization and vapor drift, with consequent risks for operators and neighbour crops. Natural, biocompatible, low-cost...

A field study was carried out in 2017 and 2018 in two Italian rice farms (at Livorno Ferraris and Rovasenda) to assess the effect of using cover crops as green mulching on weed control and rice yield. In each site, three different rice fields were sown after rice harvest with either Vicia villosa, Lolium multiflorum, or a mixture of both (V. villos...

The abundance of weedy rice ( Oryza sativa L.) in the soil seedbank was estimated in 2011 in Italian rice ( Oryza sativa L.) fields with different histories of IMI-resistant Clearfield® rice varieties (CL), non-Clearfield® varieties (NCL) and planting methods. A model was used to predict weedy rice seedbank dynamics over time under different contro...

Highlights - Quinclorac persistence in paddy water is affected by its residues in entering waters. - Entering waters often contain quinclorac residues. - A water holding period of at least 10 days may limit the offsite movement of quinclorac residues from paddy fields. Abstract The off-site movement of quinclorac from rice paddies was studied...

In 2002, a survey carried out in rice paddies in the Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state reported the occurrence of nine species of jointvetch (Aeschynomene). Due to their semi-aquatic habit, some species adapted to irrigated rice fields, which led to their being considered the worst broadleaf weed in RS. Although farmers have successfully implemented wee...

“Arable Weeds and Management in Europe” is a collection of weed vegetation records from arable fields in Europe, initiated within the Working Group Weeds and Biodiversity of the European Weed Research Society (EWRS). Vegetation-plot data from this scientific community was not previously contributed to databases. We aim to prove the usefulness of co...

Weedy rice ( Oryza sativa L.) is a troublesome rice ( Oryza sativa L.) weed in Italy and in many other rice areas. The objective of this study was to correlate the O. sativa infestation level in Northern Italy, the main European rice-growing area, with agricultural practices adopted by farmers by using data obtained from a farmer survey. In 2018-20...

Salinization is affecting many rice (Oryza sativa L.) areas worldwide and weed infestation, together with the occurrence of herbicide resistant populations, is further limiting rice yield. The study aimed at evaluating the effect of water salinity on the emergence and seedling growth of 5 Italian barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv....

Weedy rice is one of the most common weeds in rice cultivation in many rice areas throughout the world and it is able to cause significant yield reductions. Weedy rice is characterized by a high biological diversity that permits different populations to be identified on the basis of their morphological and physiological traits. This variability con...

The Cittadella di Alessandria (Italy) is a military fortification that was built in the 18th century. The site has recently been abandoned and is now colonised by weeds, including the invasive Ailanthus altissima. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of different herbicides (glyphosate, a mixture of aminopyralid + fluroxypyr and triclop...

Weedy rice is a representative of the extensive group of feral weeds that derive from crops, but has returned to the lifestyle of a wild species. These weeds develop either from a hybridization of crops with wild relatives (exoferality), or by mutation of crops to weedy forms (endoferality). Due to the close relation of weed and crop, the methods f...

Glyphosate is the world's most used herbicide to control weeds in tree and herbaceous crops, and in non-agricultural areas. However, health and environmental concerns, as well as the spread of weed resistance, may lead to a ban or limitations of its use. This event would necessitate that alternative weed control techniques be made available quickly...

Agriculture contributes to over 20% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions and irrigated paddy fields account for 5–10% of CH4 emissions. Main organic input providing methanogenesis substrate is straw. We hypothesized that removing rice straw can mitigate CH4 emissions, and that replacing its carbon (C) input with raw or solid digestate can be a val...

Seeding rates of hybrid wheat varieties are typically much lower than conventional varieties due to their higher seed costs, which could potentially delay canopy development leading to greater weed pressures. To test whether hybrid wheat crops are more affected by weed pressure than conventional cultivars, a conventional variety (“Illico”) and a hy...

One of the biggest challenges in classical biological control of invasive weeds is predicting the likelihood of success. Ambrosia artemisiifolia, a North American plant species that has become invasive in Europe, causes economic losses due to health problems resulting from its huge amount of highly allergenic pollen and as a weed to agricultural cr...

Weed control in rice fields has become particularly difficult because of the increased occurrence of herbicide resistance. The objective of the study was to assess in field conditions, in Italy, if repeated applications of the same herbicides on Echinochloa spp. populations already showing an initial level of resistance would increase their level o...

Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) is an annual weed known to infest crops and disturbed areas, and cause human pollinosis. To examine the effect of different thermal regimens on seed germination, during seed after-ripening, a study was conducted for two years. In 2012 (year 1) and 2013 (year 2), ragweed seeds collected from a single wheat st...

Weeds that have become resistant to herbicides may threaten rice production. Rice cultivation is mainly carried out in coastal and river delta areas that often suffer salinity problems. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of salinity upon germination and the root and shoot seedling growth of Italian weedy rice and cultivated rice (O...

Ailanthone (Ail) is the most phytotoxic quassinoid in plant extracts of Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, an invasive tree of Simaroubaceae with allelopathic activity. Ail has raised attention as a potential biological herbicide in weed management to reduce the impact on the environment and human health. However, high costs for its extraction an...

The aim of the present study was to assess the behavior of oxadiazon in topsoil and waters of paddy fields cultivated according to the two rice seeding systems: conventional water seeding (CON) and dry seeding (DRY). The study was carried out from 2012 to 2013 in Vercelli, north-west of Italy, the most important rice growing area of Europe. Variati...

Ailanthone is a quassinoid from Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle with allelopathic properties that deserves interest for its potential use as a natural herbicide. Data about seed germination and root and hypocotyl length of two model species (Lepidium sativus L.ˈIngleseˈ and Raphanus sativus L.ˈTondo Rosso BIOˈ) treated with different concentrat...

Presentation of some studies on effects of salinity on germination and seedling growth of some rice weeds.

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses that may affect yield and quality of crops. Salinization, in combination with the presence of aggressive weeds, such as barnyard grass (Echinochloa spp.), can be considered one of the factors responsible for reducing yield in rice fields. The aims of the study were to evaluate the salt effect on germina...

Experimentally applying pesticides is an important method to assess the efficacy of weed biocontrol agents, but potential direct effects of the chemicals on plant performance are controversial or unknown. We assessed how three broad-spectrum insecticides applied in combination affect the performance of the widely invasive, crop-yield reducing, alle...

Weed control is one of the most important practices for a satisfying crop performance. In organic farming, weeds are mainly controlled by using mechanical methods, which may result in incomplete crop selectivity. Maize is one of the crops for which mechanical weed control is commonly applied. To assess weed control efficacy and the possible crop in...

SUMMARY The current study focuses on the dissipation pattern of imazamox (2-[(RS)-4-isopropyl-4-methyl-5-oxo-2-imidazolin-2-yl]-5-methoxymethylnicotinic acid) in a soil–water environment under the two most adopted rice management systems in Europe, conventional water seeding and dry-seeding. Changes in imazamox concentrations were studied over time...

This study examined relationships between weed communities and some pedo-climatic traits in Italian maize cultivation areas. A weed dataset was amassed from studies conducted independently by research groups during 1998–2013. Included were herbicide efficacy field trials and weed surveys from about 600 sites representing 175 northern and central It...

The effect of elapsed time between spraying and first leaching event on the leaching behavior of five herbicides (terbuthylazine, S-metolachlor, mesotrione, flufenacet, and isoxaflutole) and two metabolites (desethyl-terbuthylazine and diketonitrile) was evaluated in a 2011-2012 study in northwest Italy. A battery of 12 lysimeters (8.4 m(2) long wi...

The Cittadella of Alessandria, north-west of Italy (44,9197° N; 8,6082° E), is one of the best preserved military fortifications present in Europe. Built in XVIII century it extendeds on an area of 60 hectares. In 2014 the citizen’s movement “Europa nostra” has included the Cittadella in the “7 Most Endangered”(http://www.europanostra.org/2014-list...

Successful control of species belonging to the genus Echinochloa (P. Beauv.) in Italian rice fields has become increasingly difficult because of resistance to herbicides currently available for use in rice. The objective of the study was to compare under Italian field conditions the evolution in efficacy on Echinochloa spp. of ALS-inhibitor and AC...

The recent development of the bioenergy sector has made significant amounts of digestate available, as by-product of anaerobic digestion of biomasses. As several plants have been set up in the Italian rice area, there is a growing interest on using digestate as organic fertilizer for rice cultivation. In this crop, straw is mainly incorporated into...

Weed competition can cause severe yield reduction in maize cultivation. Since the sixties the large availability of different herbicides has allowed maize growers to reach appreciable increase in the yield per hectare. At present different strategies based both on chemical and mechanical control can be adopted to control weed infestation. The aim o...

Wheat hybrids have been cultivated in Europe on 250.000 ha in 2013. Hybrids are commonly seeded at much lower seeding rate compared to the common varieties; the low seeding rates may results in lower competitive ability of hybrids toward weeds, especially during first growth stages of the crops. A field-experiment was conducted to compare weed dens...

Weedy rice (Oryza sativa L.) exhibits a great variability of morphological traits. To detect if this variability can affect its growth behavior, two experiments were performed on 10 Italian weedy rice populations grown as pure stand and in competition with rice. Five awnless and five awned populations were grown in field conditions in 15-L pots. In...

Weedy rice (Oryza sativa L.) exhibits a great variability of morphological traits. To detect if this variability can affect its growth behavior, two experiments were performed on 10 Italian weedy rice populations grown as pure stand and in competition with rice. Five awnless and five awned populations were grown in field conditions in 15-L pots. In...

The introduction of imidazolinone-tolerant rice varieties has made selective Oryza sativa (weedy rice) control possible. We hypothesised that Italian weedy rice populations have variable degrees of susceptibility to imazamox prior to imidazolinone-tolerant variety introduction. To this end, 149 Italian weedy rice populations collected from fields n...

Weedy rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the major issues of rice cultivation worldwide. In Italy, it infests about 70% of the total rice area. Different Weedy Rice populations can be distinguished based on variable morphological and physiological traits; however, little is known about genetic differentiation and origin of Italian weedy rice populati...

F ogliatto S , V idotto F & F errero A (2011). Morphological characterisation of Italian weedy rice ( Oryza sativa ) populations. Weed Research 52 , 60–69. Summary Weedy rice ( Oryza sativa ) is one of the most widespread and problematic weeds in rice cultivation; it spans the globe and can cause high yield losses. In 2008, seeds of 149 weedy rice...

Weedy rice is a problematic weed that infests paddy fields worldwide. Differing populations, with varying physiological and morphological traits, characterize this weed. In particular, seed dormancy makes its control difficult. The objective of this study was to evaluate the germination behavior of five Italian weedy rice populations (two awnless,...

Weedy rice (Oryza sativa L.), characterised by competitiveness, seed longevity, and dormancy is a troublesome weed to rice fields. Furthermore, its close botanical affinity to cultivated rice makes its control particularly difficult. However, winter flooding of rice fields can be an efficient technique to control weedy rice infestation by promoting...

a pressurized CO 2 backpack sprayer with a four-nozzle boom delivering a spray volume of 10 gallons per acre. A natural population of diclofop-resistant Italian ryegrass was treated at boot stage (24 inches tall) with several herbicides labeled for spring burn-down. Weed control was evaluated 12, 26, and 48 days after application. Italian ryegrass...