{"id":40442003,"date":"2019-06-18T16:47:25","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T14:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agrestic.eu\/en\/sistemi-colturali-innovativi-a-confronto-nei-campi-di-life-agrestic\/"},"modified":"2019-11-11T10:51:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T09:51:23","slug":"sistemi-colturali-innovativi-a-confronto-nei-campi-di-life-agrestic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agrestic.eu\/en\/sistemi-colturali-innovativi-a-confronto-nei-campi-di-life-agrestic\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovative cropping systems in Life Agrestic demonstration sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIFE AGRESTIC aims at fostering the adoption by EU farmers of innovative and efficient cropping systems\u00a0with a high climate-change mitigation potential, and spreading innovative views and tools for climateready\u00a0and resource efficient agriculture.
\nThe proposed innovation includes:
\n– introduction of legumes and catch crops in the crop rotations for reducing GHG emissions\u00a0and increasing carbon sequestration and organic N supply;
\n– implementation of a DSS (Decision Support System) for an efficient management of the innovative\u00a0crop rotations with focus on the use of external inputs (nitrogen fertilizers, Pesticides, etc.) and non-renewable\u00a0resources (soil and fuel).<\/p>\n

The innovative N- and C-Efficient Cropping Systems (ECSs) are based on the introduction of legumes and catch crops in 4-year rotations; different legumes (pea, chickpea and lentil) and catch crops (with single species or mixtures) will be considered in three different, representative environments. A preparatory action is needed for optimal design of the field activities. Specifically, it is necessary to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. select the most suitable varieties of legumes and catch crops to be used in the three environments;<\/li>\n
  2. set-up an experimental design able to account for the test complexity and prepare the plots for starting the test.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In addition, since local genotypes of both legumes and catch crops will be evaluated for their capability to further improve the ECSs, a preparatory action will be needed for<\/p>\n

    3. retrieving of these genotypes.<\/p>\n

    The cropping system rotations<\/h2>\n

    The experiments in the three demonstration sites will be designed by HORTA to:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. be representative of real farm operations (plot size to be managed with farm machinery);<\/li>\n
    2. meet the installation needs of the prototype soil GHG monitoring stations both on Conventional Cropping Systems (CCSs) and Efficient Cropping Systems (ECSs);<\/li>\n
    3. consider the simultaneous presence of all crop in the rotations;<\/li>\n
    4. permit robust statistical comparison of the results.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Horta will develop the layout of the three demonstration sites and identify the appropriate plots in the farms.
      \nThree ECSs, based on the introduction of legumes in the rotation, will be considered. The study will consider\u00a04-year rotations, even though the project will collect data for 3 cropping seasons only. A 4-year rotation is\u00a0necessary for phytosanitary reasons, because of damages caused by soil borne diseases affecting legume\u00a0crops in shorter rotations.<\/p>\n

      Demonstration sites will be set-up and managed in three representative environments in such a way to robustly compare the CCSs and ECSs; each crop will be included in\u00a0the rotation.<\/p>\n

      Three demonstration sites<\/h2>\n