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Author (up) Allan, C.; Nguyen, T.P.L.; Seddaiu, G.; Wilson, B.; Roggero, P.P. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Integrating local knowledge with experimental research: case studies on managing cropping systems in Italy and Australia Type Journal Article
  Year 2013 Publication Italian Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal Ital. J. Agron.  
  Volume 8 Issue 2 Pages 15  
  Keywords participatory action research; agronomic research; local knowledge; knowledge integration  
  Abstract The sustainable development of agricultural systems is currently challenged by many complex agro-environmental issues. These are characterized by an incomplete understanding of the situation and the problems that arise, and the conflicting opinions that result, issues over boundaries that are often difficult to define, and controversy over the multiple goals and uncertain outcomes. Added to these characteristics, we also have the slow and often inadequate uptake and implementation of research outcomes in this complex, real world. In order to improve sustainability of agro-ecosystems, agronomic research must move away from the linear research approaches and extension practices adopted so far that have focused purely on biophysical agro-ecosystems. The theoretical operational space of agronomic research must be transformed by considering agronomic issues as part of a broader social-agro-ecosystem. One aspect of this transformation is the inclusion of knowledge collected on a local level with the participation of farmers on the ground. The integration of local experiential knowledge with traditional agronomic research is by necessity based on the participation of many different stakeholders and there can be no single blueprint for how best to develop and use the input received. However, agronomists and policy advisors require general guidelines drawn up from actual experience in order to accelerate positive agronomic change. We address this need through a comparative analysis of two case studies; one involves multi-stakeholder research in a cropping system in the dairy district of Arborea, Sardinia, Italy. The central question was: How can high crop production be maintained while also achieving the EU target water quality and minimizing the production costs? The second case is a multi-stakeholder soil health project from south-eastern Australia. Here the central question was: How can soil decline be prevented and reversed in this district, and soils made more resilient to future challenges? The Social Learning for the Integrated Management and sustainable use of water (SLIM) framework, a useful heuristic tool for exploring the dynamics of transformational change, guided the analysis of the case studies. Within this framework, a key indicator of success is the emergence of new knowledge from the creation of new spaces for learning between researchers and local stakeholders. The Italian case study appears to have been the most successful in this sense, as opportunities for joint exploration of research data allowed new potential farming responses to the central question to emerge. The multi-stakeholder processes in the Australian case focused more on providing public openings for individual learning, and missed the opportunity for new knowledge to emerge through joint exploration. We conclude that participatory approaches may enable transformative practice through knowledge integration, but that this process is not an automatic outcome of increased community participation.  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  ISSN 2039-6805 1125-4718 ISBN Medium Article  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes CropM Approved no  
  Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4482  
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Author (up) Bernardoni, E.; Acutis, M.; Ventrella, D. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Long-term durum wheat monoculture: modelling and future projection Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Italian Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal Ital. J. Agron.  
  Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 13  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  ISSN 2039-6805 1125-4718 ISBN Medium Article  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes CropM, ftnotmacsur Approved no  
  Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4468  
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Author (up) Lai, R.; Seddaiu, G.; Gennaro, L.; Roggero, P.P. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Effects of nitrogen fertilizer sources and temperature on soil CO2 efflux in Italian ryegrass crop under Mediterranean conditions Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Italian Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal Ital. J. Agron.  
  Volume 7 Issue 2 Pages 27  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  ISSN 2039-6805 ISBN Medium Article  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes LiveM, ftnotmacsur Approved no  
  Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4478  
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Author (up) Leogrande, R.; Lopedota, O.; Montemurro, F.; Vitti, C.; Ventrella, D. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Effects of irrigation regime and salinity on soil characteristics and yield of tomato Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Italian Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal Ital. J. Agron.  
  Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 8  
  Keywords saline water; irrigation volume; Lycopersicon esculentum; soil solution  
  Abstract A field experiment was conducted in Mediterranean conditions to evaluate the effects of different irrigation volumes and water quality on yield performance of tomato crop. The tomato crop was irrigated reestablishing 50 (I1), 75 (I2) and 100% (I3) of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) with two water quality: fresh water with EC 0.9 dS m-1 (FW) and saline water with EC 6 dSm-1 (SW). At harvest, total and marketable yield, weight, number, total soluble solids (TSS) and dry matter of fruit were calculated, The results showed no statistical differences among the three different irrigation volumes on tomato yield and quality. The salinity treatment did not affect yield, probably because the soil salinity in the root zone on average remained below the threshold of tomato salt tolerance. Instead, salinity improved fruit quality parameters as dry matter and TSS by 13 and 8%, respectively. After the first field application of saline water, soil saturated extract cations (SSEC), electrical conductivity of soil paste extract (ECe), sodium absorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) cations increased; the largest increase of cations, in particular of Na, occurred in the top layer. At the end of the experiment, the absolute value of SSEC, ECe and SAR, for all the effects studied, were lower than those recorded in 2007. This behavior was suitable to the reduced volumes of treatments administered in 2009 in respect to the 2007. Furthermore, the higher total rainfall recorded in 2009 increased the leaching and downward movement of salts out of the sampling depth.  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2039-6805 ISBN Medium Article  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes CropM, ftnotmacsur Approved no  
  Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4476  
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Author (up) Sollitto, D.; De Benedetto, D.; Castrignanò, A.; Crescimanno, G.; Provenzano, G.; Ventrella, D. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Spatial data fusion and analysis for soil characterization: a case study in a coastal basin of south-western Sicily (southern Italy) Type Journal Article
  Year 2012 Publication Italian Journal of Agronomy Abbreviated Journal Ital. J. Agron.  
  Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 4  
  Keywords salinization risk; soil retention curve; geostatistics; factor Kriging; intrinsic random funciton  
  Abstract Salinization is one of the most serious problems confronting sustainable agriculture in semi-arid and arid regions. Accurate mapping of soil salinization and the associated risk represent a fundamental step in planning agricultural and remediation activities. Geostatistical analysis is very useful for soil quality assessment because it makes it possible to determine the spatial relationships between selected variables and to produce synthetic maps of spatial variation. The main objective of this paper was to map the soil salinization risk in the Delia-Nivolelli alluvial basin (south-western Sicily, southern Italy), using multivariate geostatistical techniques and a set of topographical, physical and soil hydraulic properties. Elevation data were collected from existing topographic maps and analysed preliminarily to improve the estimate precision of sparsely sampled primary variables. For interpolation multi-collocated cokriging was applied to the dataset, including textural and hydraulic properties and electrical conductivity measurements carried out on 128 collected soil samples, using elevation data as auxiliary variable. Spatial dependence among elevation and physical soil properties was explored with factorial kriging analysis (FKA) that could isolate and display the sources of variation acting at different spatial scales. FKA isolated significant regionalised factors which give a concise description of the complex soil physical variability at the different selected spatial scales. These factors mapped, allowed the delineation of zones at different salinisation risk to be managed separately to control and prevent salinization risk. The proposed methodology could be a valid support for land use and soil remediation planning at regional scale.  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2039-6805 1125-4718 ISBN Medium Article  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes CropM, ftnotmacsur Approved no  
  Call Number MA @ admin @ Serial 4595  
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