Abstract: Future CO2 predictions estimate an increase up to 550 ppm within only few decades away. Among the observed effects on plants, increasing CO2 stimulates growth, reduces stomatal conductance and transpiration, improves water-use efficiency and induces photosynthesis. These changes have an indirect impact on pest biology and behaviour, e.g. altering their population growth or feeding habits.Our first aim was to study the effect of ambient (400 ppm) (aCO2) and elevated CO2 (650 ppm) (eCO2) on pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Height, leaf area, dry weight and leaf temperature by thermal imaging were measured. Chlorophyll was measured in SPAD units as an indirect indicator of nitrogen foliar content. Peppers under eCO2 were significantly taller although they had the same number of leaves than under aCO2. SPAD was significantly lower under eCO2. Leaf, stem and above-ground dry weight were significantly higher under eCO2. There was a significant decrease in specific leaf area under eCO2. Canopy temperature was 1.2 °C higher under eCO2.Secondly, pepper plants were used to assess the development and fecundity of M. persicae. The pre-reproductive period was 11% longer in eCO2 peppers. Aphids grew significantly slower and produced fewer nymphs under eCO2. Lastly, aphid feeding behaviour was studied using the Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) technique, which provides a live visualization and recording of plant penetration by aphid mouthparts. EPG results will be presented and discussed. No Label

Abstract: The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy it started in 2015 with several innovative aspects. Regarding the first pillar, such aspects are especially the convergence of the basic payments, the green payments and the coupled payments. In this regard seems interesting carry out analysis about to evaluate the policy impact considering the risks and opportunities due to climate change.In this study the impact of the convergence of basic payments, the introduction of the green payments and the coupled payments has been evaluated on dairy cattle farms in the Grana Padano area. The impact has been evaluated in different climate scenarios by economic, social and environmental indicators. The methodology used is the mathematical programming and especially a model of Discrete Stochastic Programming has been used to represents farms of the FADN database.The main results show that a significant part of the farms is affected by the diversification constraint that reduces the land devoted to corn silage. Farmers could cultivate corn silage after a principal crop (e.g. ryegrass) in order to avoid the diversification constraint, however, determining a negative impact on the use of environmental resources. To consider also that in the future there is an increase of corn silage yields with long cycle.Another result to underline is that which concerns the possibility of soybean cultivation in the ecological focus areas. In fact, considering the coupled payment provided for this crop, the ecological focus areas seem to be an important source of income for the farms.Finally, the analysis shows that the convergence of the basic payment will result in a reallocation of direct payments between farms with a significant impact on farm incomes. No Label

Abstract: Increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have led to global warming and climatic changes. Both experimental and modelling studies are necessary to predict and to quantify gas exchange in agroecosystems. We studied the effect of the important environmental factors (soil moisture and temperature) on CO2 emission from agricultural soil (Orthic Luvisol developed from loess) under field and laboratory conditions. In the field experiment (winter wheat, permanent meadow or black fallow), the in situ CO2 efflux form the soil, soil moisture and temperature were measured from April to December 2013. The CO2 efflux was influenced by plant cover (F=7.96; p<0.001), and was related to both, soil temperature (p<0.001) and slightly less by soil moisture (p<0.01). In the second experiment, soil was collected from a depth of 0-10 cm, air-dried, and passed through an 2  mm sieve. Next, soil samples were rewetted to obtain soil moisture in a range from water saturation (pF 0) to plant wilting point (pF 4.2), and incubated at different temperatures (from 5oC to 30oC). Multifactor analysis of variance has shown that the soil respiration, as measured under controlled conditions, was much more affected by soil temperature (F=237.0; p<0.0001), than by soil moisture (F=4.99; p<0.01). No Label