Social aspects of organic agriculture and other multifunctional benefits - Successful EU models compared with possibilities for organic developments in Croatia

Main objective of the dissertation is to illustrate how social and educational aspects (in close interaction with other multifunctional aspects in organic agriculture) which are developed on different multifunctional organic farms in Italy and Netherlands, as well as established agricultural policy frameworks in these countries, can be compared with the situation in Croatian organics and can contribute to further developent of organic issues in the Repubic of Croatia. So, through different chapters, the dissertation describes the performance of organic agriculture sectors in Italy, Netherlands and Croatia within the national agricultural policy frameworks, it analyzes the role of national institutions and policy in Croatia in connection with Croatia's status of candidate country for enterance into EU and harmonization of legislation with the CAP, as well as analyzes what is the role of national authorities, universities, research centres, but also of private initiatives, NGOs and cooperatives in organic agriculture in Netherlands, Italy and Croatia. Its main part describes how social and educational aspects are interacting with other multifunctional aspects in organic agriculture and analyzes the benefits and contribution of multifunctional activites performed on organic farms to education, healthy nourishment, environment protection and health care. It also assess the strengths and weaknesses of organic agriculture in all researched countries. The dissertation concludes with development opportunities for multifunctional organic agriculture in Croatia, as well as giving perspectives and recommendations for different approaches on the basis of experiences learned from successful EU models accompanied with some personal ideas and proposals.

Microrganismi probiotici per le piante: una strategia di riduzione degli input nella coltura del pomodoro col metodo biologico

In the recent years, consumers became more aware and sensible in respect to environment and food safety matters. They are more and more interested in organic agriculture and markets and tend to prefer ‘organic’ products more than their traditional counterparts. To increase the quality and reduce the cost of production in organic and low-input agriculture, the 6FP-European “QLIF” project investigated the use of natural products such as bio-inoculants. They are mostly composed by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and other microorganisms, so-called “plant probiotic” microorganisms (PPM), because they help keeping an high yield, even under abiotic and biotic stressful conditions. Italian laws (DLgs 217, 2006) have recently included them as “special fertilizers”. This thesis focuses on the use of special fertilizers when growing tomatoes with organic methods in open field conditions, and the effects they induce on yield, quality and microbial rhizospheric communities. The primary objective was to achieve a better understanding of how plant-probiotic micro-flora management could buffer future reduction of external inputs, while keeping tomato fruit yield, quality and system sustainability. We studied microbial rhizospheric communities with statistical, molecular and histological methods. This work have demonstrated that long-lasting introduction of inoculum positively affected micorrhizal colonization and resistance against pathogens. Instead repeated introduction of compost negatively affected tomato quality, likely because it destabilized the ripening process, leading to over-ripening and increasing the amount of not-marketable product. Instead. After two years without any significant difference, the third year extreme combinations of inoculum and compost inputs (low inoculum with high amounts of compost, or vice versa) increased mycorrhizal colonization. As a result, in order to reduce production costs, we recommend using only inoculum rather than compost. Secondly, this thesis analyses how mycorrhizal colonization varies in respect to different tomato cultivars and experimental field locations. We found statistically significant differences between locations and between arbuscular colonization patterns per variety. To confirm these histological findings, we started a set of molecular experiments. The thesis discusses preliminary results and recommends their continuation and refinement to gather the complete results.

Wheat and low-input agriculture: agronomic, nutritional and nutraceutical implications

Recently, the increasing interest in organic food products and environmental friendly practices has emphasized the importance of selecting crop varieties suitable for the low-input systems. Additionally, in recent years the relationship between diet and human health has gained much attention among consumers, favoring the investigations on food nutraceutical properties. Among cereals, wheat plays an important role in human nutrition around the world and contributes to the daily intake of essential nutrients such as starch and protein. Moreover, whole grain contains several bioactive compounds that confer to wheat-derived products unique nutraceutical properties (dietary fibre, antioxidants). The present research provided interesting insights for the selection of wheat genotypes suitable for low-input systems and the development of specific breeding programs dedicated to organic farming. The investigation involved 5 old not dwarf genotypes (Andriolo, Frassineto, Gentil rosso, Inallettabile, Verna) and 1 modern dwarf variety (Palesio), grown under biodynamic management, over two consecutive growing seasons (2009/2010, 2010/2011). Results evidenced that under low-input farming some investigated old wheat genotypes (Frassineto, Inallettabile) were comparable to the modern cultivar in terms of whole agronomic performance. As regards the nutritional and nutraceutical properties, some old genotypes (Andriolo, Gentil rosso, Verna) emerged for their relevant content of several investigated phytochemicals (such as insoluble dietary fibre, polyphenols, flavonoids, in vitro antioxidant activity) and nutrients (protein, lipid, minerals). Despite of the low technological features, the six wheat varieties grown under low-input management may efficiently provide raw material for the preparation of traditionally processed bread with valuable sensory and nutritional properties. Results highlighted that old wheat varieties have peculiar phytochemical composition and may be a valuable source of nutraceutical compounds. Some of the genetic material involved in the present study may be used in breeding programs aimed at selecting varieties suitable for low-input farming and rich in health-promoting compounds.

Phytoplankton Response to Environmental Variables and Organic Pollutants. Laboratory Cultures and Numerical Simulations Experiments

Herbicides are becoming emergent contaminants in Italian surface, coastal and ground waters, due to their intensive use in agriculture. In marine environments herbicides have adverse effects on non-target organisms, as primary producers, resulting in oxygen depletion and decreased primary productivity. Alterations of species composition in algal communities can also occur due to the different sensitivity among the species. In the present thesis the effects of herbicides, widely used in the Northern Adriatic Sea, on different algal species were studied. The main goal of this work was to study the influence of temperature on algal growth in the presence of the triazinic herbicide terbuthylazine (TBA), and the cellular responses adopted to counteract the toxic effects of the pollutant (Chapter 1 and 2). The development of simulation models to be applied in environmental management are needed to organize and track information in a way that would not be possible otherwise and simulate an ecological prospective. The data collected from laboratory experiments were used to simulate algal responses to the TBA exposure at increasing temperature conditions (Chapter 3). Part of the thesis was conducted in foreign countries. The work presented in Chapter 4 was focused on the effect of high light on growth, toxicity and mixotrophy of the ichtyotoxic species Prymnesium parvum. In addition, a mesocosm experiment was conducted in order to study the synergic effect of the pollutant emamectin benzoate with other anthropogenic stressors, such as oil pollution and induced phytoplankton blooms (Chapter 5).

Using national FADN database to describe Italian farms and arable fields. A comparison of sustainability level between organic versus conventional regimes.

The study defines a new farm classification and identifies the arable land management. These aspects and several indicators are taken into account to estimate the sustainability level of farms, for organic and conventional regimes. The data source is Italian Farm Account Data Network (RICA) for years 2007-2011, which samples structural and economical information. An environmental data has been added to the previous one to better describe the farm context. The new farm classification describes holding by general informations and farm structure. The general information are: adopted regime and farm location in terms of administrative region, slope and phyto-climatic zone. The farm structures describe the presence of main productive processes and land covers, which are recorded by FADN database. The farms, grouped by homogeneous farm structure or farm typology, are evaluated in terms of sustainability. The farm model MAD has been used to estimate a list of indicators. They describe especially environmental and economical areas of sustainability. Finally arable lands are taken into account to identify arable land managements and crop rotations. Each arable land has been classified by crop pattern. Then crop rotation management has been analysed by spatial and temporal approaches. The analysis reports a high variability inside regimes. The farm structure influences indicators level more than regimes, and it is not always possible to compare the two regimes. However some differences between organic and conventional agriculture have been found. Organic farm structures report different frequency and geographical location than conventional ones. Also different connections among arable lands and farm structures have been identified.