Silvia Pampana

Università di Pisa | UNIPI · Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE)

Biomass and nitrogen (N) accumulation in intercrops for forage production under different fertilizations have seldom been assessed and, more occasionally, have been investigated at different stages. The biomass and N contents of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and field bean (Vicia faba L. var minor) grown as sole crops and intercrops, with five N rate...

Future European agriculture should achieve high productivity while limiting its impact on the environment. Legume-supported crop rotations could contribute to these goals, as they request less nitrogen (N) fertilizer inputs, show high resource use efficiency and support biodiversity. However, legumes grown for their grain (pulses) are not widely cu...

The sustainability and resilience of agrifood systems are key concepts to ensure environmental standards in agriculture and food security. Recently, global food security have been seriously affected by the pandemics, geopolitical issues, and conflicts, and climate change factors has become a significant concern to scientists together with farmers,...

Citation: Salman, M.; Inamullah; Jamal, A.; Mihoub, A.; Saeed, M.F.; Radicetti, E.; Ahmad, I.; Naeem, A.; Ullah, J.; Pampana, S. Composting Sugarcane Filter Mud with Different Sources Differently Benefits Sweet Maize. Agronomy 2023, 13, 748. Abstract: Reusing organic wastes in land applications would enhance the recovery of resources, following the...

Legume-cereal mixtures are pivotal in yielding a more balanced forage composition compared to the sole crops, referable to a well-adjusted equilibrium of carbohydrate and protein. However, great attention is required in choosing the optimal ratio of the components for the mixtures and other agronomic practices (including N fertilization and stage o...

Agricultural production systems currently face multiple challenges: Climate change, natural resource depletion, and supply chain disruption, together with global population growth. As sustainable agriculture must simultaneously deliver myriad services (e.g. provide food security, maintain natural resources, retain and improve framers’ profitability...

Optimizing the productivity and efficiency of cereal–legume intercropping through exploiting differences in nitrogen (N) acquisition of the two crops is crucial in Mediterranean areas. A two-year field study was conducted in Central Italy to determine how N fertilization rate affected forage and grain production as well as intercropping efficiency...

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn) is a staple crop of the Mediterranean countries, where more frequent waterlogging events are predicted due to climate change. However, few investigations have been conducted on the physiological and agronomic responses of this crop to waterlogging. The present study provides a comprehensi...

Winter cereals are excellent candidates for biosolid application because their nitrogen (N) requirement is high, they are broadly cultivated, and their deep root system efficiently takes up mineral N. However, potential N leaching from BS application can occur in Mediterranean soils. A two-year study was conducted to determine how biosolids affect...

In nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs), site-specific techniques are needed to match N availability with durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum Desf.) requirements. Enhanced-efficiency fertilizers can improve efficient N supply and reduce leaching, contributing to sustainable agriculture. Two-year field experiments were carried out at two Mediterr...

In Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ) site-specific techniques are needed to match N availability with durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum Desf.) requirements. Enhanced-efficiency fertilizers (EEF) can improve efficient N supply and reduce leaching, thus contributing to sustainable agriculture. To study the effects of rates, sources and timings...

In Mediterranean Europe, winter cereals can experience soil waterlogging starting from crop establishment up to stem elongation and, in late sowings, this stress is combined with temperatures favorable to plant metabolism. Oats response to waterlogging has been rarely investigated, but these species seems to recover better than other cereals. In a...

The research was carried out to evaluate the growth rate, the evolution of the nutrient characteristics, and the best stage to obtain the highest yield of nutrients from field bean (Vicia faba var. minor Beck) sown in spring for forage and seed. The best models for quanti-qualitative parameter estimation were curvilinear, such as the one proposed b...

Biosolids are organic fertilisers derived from treated and stabilised sewage sludge that increase soil fertility and supply nitrogen to crops over a long period, but can also increase the risk of nitrogen (N) leaching. In this work, spring barley was grown in lysimeters filled with soil amended with biosolids, and with and without mineral N fertili...

The main aim of this research was to verify whether mineral nitrogen (N) continuously released by organic fertilisers during the field bean growth cycle may be sufficiently high to enhance plant growth and seed yield but sufficiently low that it does not negatively affect nodulation and symbiotic N2 fixation. Plants were grown without N fertilisati...

Legume crops are not usually fertilised with mineral N. However, there are at least two agronomic cases when it would be advantageous to distribute N fertiliser to legume crops: at sowing, before the onset of nodule functioning, and when a legume is intercropped with a cereal. We highlight the impact of various levels of fertiliser nitrogen on grai...

Preceding crop greatly affects the agronomic and economic performance of durum wheat, but its interaction with tillage intensity was scarcely investigated at the early transition from conventional to reduced tillage. This work was aimed at studying how preceding crop determines the performance of durum wheat during the early transition from convent...

Waterlogging is one of the limiting factors influencing durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) production. In this paper we investigated the impact of seven waterlogging durations of 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 40, and 60 days, imposed at 3-leaf and 4-leaf growth stages, on grain yield, grain yield components, straw and root dry weight and nitrogen concentration of...

Waterlogging can reduce barley grain yield depending on the sensitivity of the cultivar, the duration, and the stage of development in which waterlogging occurs. This study was conducted to determine whether waterlogging during the tillering stage reduces the grain yield of barley by reducing the spikelet formation and, consequently, the number of...

Soil flooding and submergence, collectively termed waterlogging, are major abiotic stresses that severely constrain crop growth and productivity in many regions. Cool-season grain legumes can be exposed to submersion both at the vegetative and reproductive stages. Limited research has been carried out on these crops with waterlogging imposed at flo...

Waterlogging stress is one of the limiting factors influencing wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production. Wheat tolerance to waterlogging is related to the duration of the waterlogging event, the crop development stage in which waterlogging occurs, and the sensitivity of genotype. In this paper we investigated the impact of eight waterlogging duratio...

Preceding crop greatly affects the agronomic and economic performance of durum wheat, but its interaction with tillage intensity was scarcely investigated at the early transition from conventional to reduced tillage. This work was aimed at studying how preceding crop determines the performance of durum wheat during the early transition from convent...

In grain legumes, the N requirements of growing seeds are generally greater than biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and soil N uptake during seed filling, so that the N previously accumulated in the vegetative tissues needs to be redistributed in order to provide N to the seeds. Chickpea, field bean, pea, and white lupin were harvested at flowering...

Forage legumes can improve the N-efficiency of crop systems but also increase environmental pollution. This research investigated the NO3-N leached during the growth cycle of four forage legume crops and of barley and evaluated their residual effect on yield, N uptake and nitrate leaching of Italian ryegrass. For all crops, the nitrate leaching los...

Crop sequence is an important management practice that may affect durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) production. Field research was conducted in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons in a rain-fed cold Mediterranean environment to examine the impact of the preceding crops alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), maize (Zea mays L.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)...

Wheat grain products are the primary source of dietary Cd-intake for humans. Since varieties differ markedly in grain-Cd accumulation, efforts are needed to find traits associated with low, or high, accumulation. Two durum wheat varieties, selected in a field screening as low (Creso) and high (Svevo) grain-Cd accumulating, were grown on soil spiked...

Optimum nitrogen fertilizer management for wheat production is important for maximum economic yield and minimum pollution of the environment. A lysimetric trial was conducted in Central Italy during 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 on durum wheat varieties Latinur and Svevo to evaluate effects of ammonium sulphate and Entec 46 at sowing, of ammonium sulphat...

Optimisation of N fertilisation is a central issue and goal of applied research in agricultural systems. Site-specific management techniques are needed in order to closely match availability with requirement throughout crop cycle and to reduce as much as possible environmental dispersion of N. Lysimeter experiments were conducted in central Italy i...

Soil gravel content affects many soil physical properties, as well as crop yield. Little is known regarding the influence of soil gravel content on growth and nutrient uptake of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.). The accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorous during the vegetative and reproductive periods and the contribution of pre-anthesis assimil...

In bioassays, the water extracts of rye, brown mustard and hairy vetch biomass were toxic to target species, suggesting the release of phytotoxins from plant biomass. The toxic effects on germination were extracts concentration dependent. Root growth was more affected than shoot growth. We found that allelopathic inhibition of weeds occurred throug...

This study is meant to provide a contribution in recent developments of biodegradable polymeric materials applied in agricultural practices with particular reference to the mulching segment. Special attention has been devoted to material based on renewable resources or utilization of waste products from agro-industrial activities, thus suggesting c...

Cropping systems’ sustainability evaluation cannot set aside their performances along the time not only for what concerns yields but also with regard to economic profitability and environmental protection. For these reasons, this paper examines the economic, energetical and nutrient balances of three cropping systems for maize continuos crops withi...