Biomass harvesting from buffer strips in Italy: three options compared     

Raffaele Spinelli  Carla Nati  Natascia Magagnotti 《Agroforestry Systems》2006,68(2):113-121

There is an urgent need for new, mechanized systems that may restitute some profitability to buffer strip harvesting and motivate regular maintenance. An opportunity for innovation is offered by the growing success of chip-fed boilers, since the production of chips is simpler than that of logs and has a higher potential for cost reduction. Within this context, a study was conducted in Italy with the goals of: (a) designing three alternative chip harvesting methods for buffer strips, (b) field-testing the performance of each alternative, and (c) developing a model for estimating the cost of these methods under varying operational and economic conditions. The three harvesting methods reflected different mechanization levels, with escalating investment requirements. Overall, the study demonstrated that frequent maintenance of young, single row buffer strips generates profits only when thoroughly mechanized. Using a dedicated feller-buncher, a front-end loader for extraction and an industrial truck-mounted chipper brought the delivered cost below the 14 €/m³ loose chips (approximately 4 €/GJ) presently paid by the district heating stations. However, the intermediate-mechanization system showed the highest potential for improvements. The␣study generated a spreadsheet-based model for predicting the effects of varying work conditions and cost hypotheses.  相似文献   

Modeling farm-level adoption of deficit irrigation using Positive Mathematical Programming     

Raffaele Cortignani  Simone Severini 《Agricultural Water Management》2009,96(12):1785-1791

Irrigated agriculture in the European Union (EU) is currently adapting to new conditions including the principle of the full recovery of water service costs, the reduction of water availability and the increasing variability in the prices of agricultural products. This has fostered an increasing number of economic analyses to investigate farmers’ behaviour by means of mathematical programming techniques including Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) models.However PMP models generally consider only activities observed in the reference period even if, under new policies and market conditions, farmers can adopt irrigation techniques they have not used previously. In particular, under increasing water costs or decreasing water availability, farmers can introduce Deficit Irrigation (DI) techniques that might not have been profitable earlier.We propose an extension of the PMP approach to include DI techniques not observed in the reference period. These alternative techniques are identified by means of a crop growth model developed by the FAO. We apply our methodology to a Mediterranean area using three sets of simulations involving: increases in water costs, reductions in water availability, and changes in the prices of the products obtained from irrigated crops.Lacking observations of alternative irrigation techniques, our approach captures potential technology adjustments and assesses the impact of changes in water policy and market conditions in a better way.Simulation results show that increasing water costs do not motivate adoption of DI techniques. Rather, farmers are induced to save water by switching from full irrigation to deficit irrigation when water availability is reduced or the prices of irrigated crops are increased.  相似文献   

Managing watershed services of tropical forests and plantations: Can meta-analyses help?     

Bruno Locatelli  Raffaele Vignola 《Forest Ecology and Management》2009

The watershed services provided by tropical natural and planted forests are critical to human well-being. An increasing number of valuation studies and experiences with payment for ecosystem services have dealt with the role of ecosystems in regulating the flow of water. However, several studies and experiences have been based on misconceptions about the role of forests and plantations in the hydrological cycle, despite the publication of many reviews by hydrologists. The objective of this paper is to evaluate whether meta-analyses applied to studies comparing water flows in tropical watersheds under natural or planted forests and non-forest lands can provide useful results for valuing watershed ecosystem services and making decisions. The meta-analyses show significantly lower total flows or base flows under planted forests than non-forest land uses. Meta-analyses conducted with subsamples of the data also show lower total flow and higher base flow under natural forests than non-forest land uses. However, the available studies were restricted to humid climates and particular forest types (Pinus and Eucalyptus planted forests and lowland natural forests). The small number of available studies with sufficient original data is a major constraint in the application of meta-analyses. This represents a major technical challenge for valuation studies or payment for ecosystem services, especially in countries where financial resources for implementing field research are scarce.  相似文献   

Identification of candidate genes for paratuberculosis resistance in the native Italian Garfagnina goat breed     

Francesca Cecchi  Claudia Russo  Daniela Iamartino  Alessia Galiero  Barbara Turchi  Filippo Fratini  Sara Degl’Innocenti  Raffaele Mazza  Stefano Biffani  Giovanna Preziuso  Carlo Cantile 《Tropical animal health and production》2017,49(6):1135-1142

Paratuberculosis disease is a chronic bacterial disease infection of ruminants of global relevance, caused by MAP (Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis). The present study was conducted on the Garfagnina goat breed that is an Italian native goat population registered on the Tuscan regional repertory of genetic resources at risk of extinction. Forty-eight adult goats (27 serologically positive to MAP-positive and 21 serologically negative to MAP-negative) belonging to a single flock that had experienced annual mortalities due to MAP infection were identified and genotyped with the Illumina GoatSNP60 BeadChip. Diagnosis was achieved by serological tests, as well as post-mortem examination of affected animals. A genome-wide scan was then performed on the individual marker genotypes, in an attempt to identify genomic regions associated with MAP infection disease. Nine significant markers were highlighted and they were located within, or nearby, annotated genes. Two genes found in this study encode are linked to protein kinases that are among the most important enzymes involved in the immune response to Johne’s disease, and four genes are involved in the functions of the Golgi complex.  相似文献   

The effect of coppice management on stump volume recovery in mechanized operations     

Muedanyi Ramantswana  Andrew Mcewan  Raffaele Spinelli 《Annals of Forest Science》2017,74(3):58

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Occurrence, Distribution, and Polymerase Chain Reaction-Based Detection of Resistance to Sterol Demethylation Inhibitor Fungicides in Populations of Blumeriella jaapii in Michigan     

Proffer TJ  Berardi R  Ma Z  Nugent JE  Ehret GR  McManus PS  Jones AL  Sundin GW 《Phytopathology》2006,96(7):709-717

ABSTRACT The intensive use of site-specific fungicides in agricultural production provides a potent selective mechanism for increasing the frequency of fungicide-resistant isolates in pathogen populations. Practical resistance occurs when the frequency and levels of resistance are great enough to limit the effectiveness of disease control in the field. Cherry leaf spot (CLS), caused by the fungus Blumeriella jaapii, is a major disease of cherry trees in the Great Lakes region. The site-specific sterol demethylation inhibitor fungicides (DMIs) have been used extensively in the region. In 2002, CLS control failed in a Michigan orchard that had used the DMI fenbuconazole exclusively for 8 years. That control failure and our observations from around the state suggested that practical resistance had developed in B. jaapii. Field trial data covering 1989 to 2005 for the DMIs fenbuconazole and tebuconazole supported observations of reduced efficacy of DMIs for controlling CLS. To verify the occurrence of fungicide-resistant B. jaapii, monoconidial isolates were collected in two surveys and tested using a fungicide-amended medium. In one survey, 137 isolates from sites with different DMI histories (no known history, mixed or alternated with other fungicides, and exclusive use) were tested against 12 concentrations of fenbuconazole, tebuconazole, myclobutanil, and fenarimol. Isolates from sites with no prior DMI use were DMI sensitive (DMI(S) = no colony growth at 0.2 mug/ml a.i.) whereas the isolates from the site with prior exclusive use showed growth at DMI concentrations 3 to >100 times higher, and were rated as DMI resistant (DMI(R)). A second survey examined 1,530 monoconidial isolates, including 1,143 from 62 orchard sites in Michigan, where DMIs had been used to control CLS. Resistance to fenbuconazole was detected in 99.7% of the orchard isolates. All isolates from wild cherry trees were sensitive and isolates from feral and dooryard trees showed a range of sensitivities. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection method for identifying B. jaapii and DMI(R) was developed and tested. The species-specific primer pair (Bj-F and Bj-R) based on introns in the CYP51 gene of B. jaapii, and the DMI(R)-specific primer pair (DMI-R-Bj-F and DMI-R-Bj-R) based on an insert found upstream of CYP51 in all DMI(R) isolates, provided an accurate and rapid method for detecting DMI(R) B. jaapii. The PCR-based identification method will facilitate timely decision making and continued monitoring of DMI(R) subpopulations in response to management programs.  相似文献   

Site impact after motor-manual and mechanised thinning in Mediterranean pine plantations     

Natascia Magagnotti  Raffaele Spinelli  Olaf Güldner  Jörn Erler 《Biosystems Engineering》2012,113(2):140-147

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A survey of the skidder fleet of Central,Eastern and Southern Europe     

Spinelli  Raffaele  Magagnotti  Natascia  Visser  Rien  O’Neal  Brandon 《European Journal of Forest Research》2021,140(4):901-911

European Journal of Forest Research - As a generalization, harvested timber is extracted from forests either as trees or stems by skidders or as logs by forwarders. Coupled with harvesters,...  相似文献   

Formulation of New Media from Dairy and Brewery Wastes for a Sustainable Production of DHA-Rich Oil by Aurantiochytrium mangrovei     

Giovanni L. Russo  Antonio L. Langellotti  Vito Verardo  Beatriz Martín-García  Prospero Di Pierro  Angela Sorrentino  Marco Baselice  Maria Oliviero  Raffaele Sacchi  Paolo Masi 《Marine drugs》2022,20(1)

Mozzarella stretching water (MSW) is a dairy effluent generated from mozzarella cheese production that does not have a real use and is destined to disposal, causing environmental problems and representing a high disposal cost for dairy producers. Spent brewery yeast (SBY) is another promising food waste produced after brewery manufacturing that could be recycled in new biotechnological processes. Aurantiochytrium mangrovei is an aquatic protist known as producer of bioactive lipids such as omega 3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 LC-PUFA), in particular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). In this work MSW and SBY have been used to formulate new sustainable growth media for A. mangrovei cultivation and production of DHA in an attempt to valorize these effluents. MSW required an enzymatic hydrolysis to enhance the biomass production. The new media obtained from hydrolysed MSW was also optimized using response surface methodologies, obtaining 10.14 g L⁻¹ of biomass in optimized medium, with a DHA content of 1.21 g L⁻¹.  相似文献