Stefano Bocchi

Università degli Studi di Milano · Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Production, Landscape, Agroenergy

Time-dependent geolocalized analysis of pollution data allows to better understand their dynamics over time and could suggest strategies to restore a good ecological status of contaminated area. This research analyzes concentrations of pollutants in surface waters and groundwater monitored by the Regional Environment Protection Agency of Lombardy f...

Rice cultivation has a key role in food security worldwide; on the other hand, it has a high potential impact on the environment and human health, mainly due to the extensive pesticides use and greenhouse gas emissions caused by flooded cultivation. In Italy, the rice sector based mainly on high-input monoculture. The transition toward organic agri...

This study integrates an earthenware-based biofilter into photobioreactors (PBR), to allow Spirulina growth on organic nutrient sources. The earthenware acted as permeable membrane, enabling the bio-oxidation of soluble organics and the diffusion of mineralised ions to the photobioreactor. When fed with lactic acid fermentation effluents (organic l...

The National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration (RDA) of Korea is presently developing new rice varieties suitable for producing Western rice-based foods, such as risotto, a well-known Italian-style product. The study considered different milled rice from five Tongil-type and six Japonica-type varieties. Besides the biometr...

Every intervention of planning, implementation, and monitoring of agricultural and agri-environmental policies requires assessment tools that should have the characteristics of relevance, completeness, interpretability, data quality, efficiency, and overlapping. Despite the extensive selection of bibliographies and numerous projects designed to dev...

Every intervention of planning, implementation, and monitoring of agricultural and agri-environmental policies requires assessment tools that should have the characteristics of relevance, completeness, interpretability, data quality, efficiency, and overlapping. Despite the extensive selection of bibliographies and numerous projects designed to dev...

Food is the foundation of human development and prosperity, but its production chain can also jeopardize Earth’s biosphere and, consequently, human health if its footprint on ecosystems is not timely and adequately contained. The relationship between humans and environment should be assessed considering the complex and convoluted structure of the c...

Aerobic biodegradation of biomass can release considerable heat, reaching temperatures of up to 65 °C. This heat can be recovered and used for domestic purposes through the implementation of Compost Heat Recovery System (CHRS). In this study, data were collected from a full-scale CHRS, fed with tree-pruning residues, installed in a farmhouse locate...

Quantifying synergistic environmental effects in water contamination is still an open issue. Here, we have analyzed geolocalized data of pollutants recorded in 2018 in surface and groundwater of Lombardy, one of the areas with the highest agricultural production rates, not only in Italy, but also in Europe. Both herbicides and insecticides are pres...

Peucedanum ostruthium (L.) W.D.J.Koch (Apiaceae) is an alpine medicinal plant traditionally used as a panacea to treat various ailments. For the first time, its phytotoxic and nematotoxic properties were investigated. The inhibitory activity toward germination and seedling growth of the weeds Echinochloa oryzoides (Ard.) Fritsch and Lolium multiflo...

Latest international directives indicate the need for sustainable development, linking so-cio-economic and environmental aspects, to reach the goals set by Agenda 2030. In this context, peri-urban agriculture can represent the opportunity to increase cities' sustainability, improving their liveability level, fulfilling a crucial social part since i...

The expansion of urban agglomerates is causing significant environmental changes, while the demand and need for sustainability keep on growing. In this context, urban and peri-urban agriculture can play a crucial role, mainly if associated with an agroecological approach. Indeed, the extensive use of living fences and tree rows can improve the envi...

Quantifying synergistic environmental effects in water contamination is still an open issue. Here, we have analyzed geolocalized data of pollutants recorded in 2018 in surface and groundwater of Lombardia, one of the areas with the highest agricultural production rates, not only in Italy, but also in Europe. Both herbicides and insecticides are pre...

In the past, the aquatic pteridophyte Marsilea quadrifolia L. was considered as a weed in paddy fields of southern Europe. The systematic use of herbicides as a crucial component of intensive agronomic approach has led to a dramatic decline in M. quadrifolia populations in European countries, mostly in the Mediterranean area. However, the introduct...

Il sistema agro-alimentare italiano sta cercando percorsi innovativi, atti a garantire più equi assetti economici, una generale riappropriazione dei valori di cura e cultura del territorio, una maggiore attenzione alle tematiche sociali. Tale ampia e profonda innovazione di sistema, in contrasto con la cultura dei mercati alimentari delle commodity...

Significant socio-economic changes have occurred in the last decades: among all, increased migration from rural to urban areas. It appears clear that there is a need for resilient cities, capable of combining economic and environmental sustainability. Agroecological practices, as a reduction in agrochemicals input and extended use of living fences...

In the title, it should be Oryza instead of Oriza.

VR experience during an event at Centrale dell'Acqua di Milano, Italy. Credit: MM The global Sustainable Development Goals are strongly communicated to citizens. Although the media are using classic or innovative communication processes no appraise was established on the effectiveness of these. Here for the first time, we assess the effectiveness o...

Rice cultivation, particularly prone to weed issues, requires practices able to effectively control them, however reducing the use of herbicides, responsible for damage to human health and ecosystem sustainability. Alternative strategies for weed management can be based on plant-plant interaction phenomena. In this context, a group of organic farme...

Since the Green Revolution, worldwide agriculture has been characterized by a typical top–down approach. The degree of autonomy, creativity, and responsibility of farmers has been limited by the continuous external inputs of chemicals, machinery, advice, subsidies and knowledge. The issue of sustainability has brought complexity and uncertainty to...

The local agro-food systems (LAS), defined as innovative systems, alternative to the current global food model, are based on design, organization, management, and optimization of the complex relationships among sectors (agricultural production, transformation, distribution, and consumption) in a region. As relocalized innovative, sustainable agro-f...

Agrivoltaics describes concurrent agricultural production of crops and photovoltaic generation of electricity on the same cropland. By using tinted semi-transparent solar panels, this study introduces a novel element to transform the concept of agrivoltaics from just solar-sharing to selective utilisation of different light wavelengths. Agrivoltaic...

The phytotoxic relationships between crops and weeds can cover a role in weed management, reducing the use of chemical herbicides. Starting from the organic farmers’ experience, the study aimed to define the inhibitory action of Lolium multiflorum Lam., used as a cover crop before rice sowing, against Echinochloa oryzoides (Ard.) Fritsch, one of th...

A novel mediatorless photo-bioelectrochemical sensor operated with a biofilm of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803 wt. for herbicide detection with long term stability (>20 days) was successfully developed and tested. Photoanodic current generation was obtained in the absence of artificial mediators. The inhibitory effect on photocurrent of t...

Rice is the third grown crop worldwide and responsible of significant environmental impacts. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the organic rice' performance and management, probably due to the limits encountered by the reductionist approach in studying complex systems such as an organic paddy. The study proposes a knowledge-inte...

Sommario: 1. I pagamenti dei servizi ecosistemici (PES o Payments of Ecosystem Services), 224 — 2. Aggiornamento del concetto di servizi ecosistemici, 225 — Riferimenti bibliografici, 228.

1-Background The most important environmental alterations of the last 125 years can be resumed in forest destruction and agrarian landscape increase. This process has many implications with all the other components, as listed by PHA, from biodiversity loss to climate change. Moreover, these alterations are related to the failing of "green revolutio...

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on agroecology, its relationship with organic agriculture, and the contribution that both could give to revitalise agronomic research and the role of agronomists in science and society.

Introduction It has long been recognized that mainstream intensive agricultural and food systems are not sustainable, as clearly highlighted by the current global economic crisis and the increasing divide between farmers’ incomes and food prices. An exception to this trend is organic agriculture (OA), which is experiencing increased attractiveness...

The use of Beauveria bassiana in biological control of agricultural pests is mainly hampered by environmental factors, such as elevated temperatures and low humidity. These limitations , further amplified in a global warming scenario, could nullify biological control strategies based on this fungus. The identification of thermotolerant B. bassiana...

Isolates and sampling sites characteristics. Beauveria bassiana isolates and their sites of collection and source (insect host or soil sample). (DOCX)

Maximum likelihood tree inferred from an allignment of the Bloc sequences. Branch ends with the accession number of the sequences. The scale bar at the bottom indicates the distance expressed in substitutions per site. (TIF)

Maximum likelihood tree inferred from an allignment of the EF1-α sequences. Branch ends with the accession number of the sequences. The scale bar at the bottom indicates the distance expressed in substitutions per site. (TIF)

Changes in the biological parameters of the obtained Beauveria bassiana isolates. Reduction percentages in the biological parameters due to the increase of tested temperatures (25°C to 30°C), and their correlation with the average temperature of the collection area. (DOCX)

Probit analysis for calculating the lethal concentration of B. bassiana isolates (LC50). Corrected mortality percentage of 3rd instar larvae of E. kuehinella treated with different concentrations (log10) of B. bassiana isolates at the 10th day of observation. (TIF)

Isolates agressivity evaluation using the Fungal Development Index (FDI). A scale based on the observed symptoms of Beauveria bassiana spores infection and development on the surface of Ephestia kuehienella larvae. (DOCX)

Probit analysis for calculating the lethal time of B. bassiana isolates (LT50). Corrected mortality percentage of 3rd instar larvae of E. kuehinella at different observation days (log10), after treatment with B. bassiana isolates (10^5 spores/ml). (TIF)

Maximum likelihood tree inferred from an allignment of the ITS sequences. Branch ends with the accession number of the sequences. The scale bar at the bottom indicates the distance expressed in substitutions per site. (TIF)

Molecular markers used for B. bassiana characterization. The primers, PCR amplification conditions and the references. (DOCX)

A list of characterized Beauveria isolates with their host and origin. Beauveria isolates used in this study as comparatives and ITS, Bloc and EFα-1 GenBank accession numbers. (DOCX)

Biological characteristics of the obtained Beauveria bassiana isolates. The measured biological parameters of the obtained B. bassiana isolates at different tested temperatures. (DOCX)

In merito al disegno di legge attualmente in discussione e delle critiche espresse in diverse occasione dai detrattori dell'agricoltura biologica (sen. Cattaneo in testa), non condividendo molte di queste dichiarazioni, abbiamo deciso, come "Gruppo di docenti per la Libertà della Scienza", di riprendere e affrontare alcuni temi controversi per un a...

European Union policy promotes the redesigning of food systems, with special focus on peri-urban agriculture and the metropolitan regions food self-sufficiency. In this context, the study has evaluated the feasibility of “urban food procurement model” (URP-model); which is prepared based on the institutional mass catering fed by local and short sup...

characterizing Arthropods communities inhabiting soil of organic and conventional farms, by Using DNA metabarcoding approach,

The aim of this book is to share research and practice on current trends in digital technology for agricultural and rural development in the Global South: specifically to bring together the perspectives of academic researchers from diverse disciplines with those of practitioners with experience in implementing mobile applications and agricultural i...

Improving a rehabilitation of the entire agricultural landscape is an impellent necessity, because it represents the most important possibility for man to recover our Earth: especially after the decrease of ecological efficiency due to the agrarian industrialization and the expanse of urbanization. To strike this goal both ecological and economical...

Public School Food Procurements (PSFPs) are recognized as drivers of food and nutrition security. In the last decade, researchers and institutions have focused on designing sustainable school food procurements that include organic food. This study examines the public food procurement system in 524 of the 1554 municipalities of Lombardy in Northern...

Poster presentato al 13° Convegno Nazionale di Agrometeorologia: AIAM 2010. Bari (Italia), 8 -10 Giugno 10 Giugno, 2010.

Grain quality is crucial to meeting market demand and preserve the sustainability of the European rice sector. However the relationships between agro-meteorological conditions and major features of pre-harvest quality are not well understood. The evaluation of available models is needed to assess their suitability for predicting grain quality for d...

Industrial Agriculture and Green Revolution are the most responsible agents of agrarian landscapes alteration. Agroecology may change this dangerous situation, but it is often too linked with traditional ecology, mainly reductionist. So, even Agroecology should follow the new discipline of Landscape Bionomics (Ingegnoli, 2011, 2015) able to upgrade...

DNA metabarcoding, a promising new technology, involves the direct extraction of DNA from soil samples, PCR amplification of the extracted DNA with specific primers, followed by libraries preparation with sample-specific tags and sequencing through Next Generation Sequencing technologies (Hamilton et al., 2009). In the present study, two combinatio...

Alpine meadows have been exposed to relevant management shifts in the last decades, with changes in plant species composition and biodiversity losses often occurring in favor of augmented foraging capabilities, especially in marginal rural contexts. In this study, we analyzed the relationships among the plant species composition, biodiversity and f...

The future of global rice productions in top producing countries is undermined by the impact of climate change threatening food security in the near future. In those European Mediterranean areas where rice is cultivated, this peculiar cropping system plays a crucial role in terms of sociocultural and ecological issues, and the climate change impact...

The increasing importance of environmental studies brings even biology to a change in the scientific paradigm. That means a passage from reductionism to a systemic approach and shows the limits of many branches of biology, mainly genetics, ecology and medicine. New disciplines arose to upgrade these limits, as Epigenetics, Psycho-Neuro-Endocrine-Im...

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) (Family: Amaranthaceae – APG classification) is an Andean grain recently introduced on the European market and cultivated in experimental fields. In one of these experimental fields, in San Giorgio Piacentino (Italy), a heavy bug infestation was observed. The species was identified as Nysius cymoides (Spinola) (He...

Landscape connectivity analysis is a major tool in supporting biodiversity conservation. Several methodologies have been developed to tackle it by following two main paths. The first path exploits graph approaches and models focal nodes' connections on a resistance/conductance matrix depending on focal species' movement potential. The second path c...

Alternative agricultural systems, like organic and local agriculture, are becoming increasingly important in Europe to the detriment of conventional methods. As a matter of fact, sustainable agriculture, which started as a niche sector, has been able to conquer a significant share of the European agro-food market. Institutional promotion along with...

Operational tools to support nitrogen (N) management in cropping systems are increasingly needed to maximise profit, minimise environmental impact, and to cope with market requirements. In this study, a new method (18%-grey DGCI) for estimating leaf and plant N content from digital photography was evaluated and compared with others based on image p...

The Mediterranean environment is characterized by low and erratic rainfall amount which varies between (200– 600 mm.year-1), and characterized also by high temperature which increase the rate of evapotranspiration from the cultivated soil. Under these conditions which have a great influence on crop production, there is a great needing to increase t...

Rangeland monitoring services require the capability to investigate vegetation condition and to assess biomass production, especially in areas where local livelihood depends on rangeland status. Remote sensing solutions are strongly recommended, where the systematic acquisition of field data is not feasible and does not guarantee properly describin...

Tropical and subtropical rangeland systems provide core ecosystem services for the welfare of human populations that rely on readiness and quality of forage resources. However, forage species are still widely overlooked by molecular biology studies. In the present study, we employ 366 AFLP markers to provide the first description of the genetic lan...

The lack of standardized information on the evaluation of in vivo field methods is an important source of uncertainty in the interpretation of field data. The same words precision and accuracy can be frequently found in the agronomic and ecological literature, although often used without a real attempt to give these terms rigorous and shared meanin...

Bangladesh is considered one of the countries most likely to be affected by negative impacts of climate change. Indeed, a wide range of climate-induced threats endangers national food security. Furthermore, the peculiar environmental characteristics of Bangladesh make it particularly difficult to design and implement comprehensive policies to suppo...

Today agroecology is recognized as a new scientific paradigm useful to respond to the new sustainability challenges of both the agriculture and the agro-food system domains. Aims and contents of this discipline have changed over time and are still evolving today: conceptual tools and methodologies offered by agroecology may be usefully adopted with...

HNVF definition in Lombardy, N Italy, on the basis of multiple indicators (biological, farming, ...). in Italian; available at: http://www.agricoltura-biodiversita.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Relazione_tecnica.pdf

Research on rice cropping systems carried out in Europe has to face the great variability of pedo-climatic conditions, and the linked abundance of cultivated varieties, characteristic of the high latitudes-temperate areas where rice is traditionally grown.Dynamic simulation models can provide an useful tool for system analysis needed to improve the...

Recent studies using low-resolution satellite time series show that the Sahelian belt of West Africa is witnessing an increase in vegetation cover/biomass, called re-greening. However, detailed information on local processing and changes is rare or lacking. A multi-temporal set of Landsat images was used to produce land-cover maps for the years 200...