The course aims at providing students with specific and deepened knowledge and comprehension capacity regarding plant productions to design and manage the innovation of agriculture production, from both qualitative and quantitative point of view, focused on a systemic approach to the soil quality, sustainable cultivations, and environmental impact. The main objective of the course is the understanding of the agricultural practices within circular productive processes for the valorization of waste products such as nutrients and bioactivators for the cultivations.
INTRODUCTION. Sustainability and sustainable development: journey 2050. The U.N. Sustainable development goals.
The soil system and ecosystem services. Sustainable utilization of the soil resource. Soil conservation. Agriculture vs. sustainability: background, problems and limitations, possible solutions. Main physical and chemical soil properties, and their influence on sustainable agriculture. Soil management for a sustainable agriculture.
UTILIZATION AND RECYCLE OF WASTE BIOMASS IN AGRICULTURE. Waste biomass types and main recycling techniques in agriculture. COMPOST: the composting process, matrices, techniques, applications, quality evaluation; compost and agro-environmental sustainability. BIOCHAR: from the Terra Preta do Indio to biochar, main chemical and physical features, advantages and disadvantages of biochar application in agricultural soils; biochar and agro-environmental sustainability. DIGESTATE: main chemical features, advantages and disadvantages of its application in agricultural soils; digestate and agro-environmental sustainability. RECYCLED BIOMASS: legislation and analytical methods of characterization.
| Author | Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN | Note |
| Sequi P., Ciavatta C., Miano T. (a cura di) | Fondamenti di chimica del suolo (Edizione 3) | Pàtron | 2017 | 9788855533621 | Suggerito per la parte del programma riguardante le principali caratteristiche del sistema suolo. |
| Zaccone C. | Materiale didattico fornito dal docente | 2019 | I files delle lezioni sono scaricabili in modalità e-learning. | ||
| Lal R., Horn R., Kosaki T. (Eds) | Soil and sustainable development goals (Edizione 1) | Catena Soil Sciences | 2018 | 9783510654253 | Suggerito per la parte del programma riguardante lo sviluppo sostenibile (SDGs). |
The final exam consists of an oral interview (ca. 30 min of duration; generally 3 questions) on the topics developed during the course and will aim to ascertain both the concepts learned and the ability to link them and discuss implications. The exam method is the same for attending and non-attending students.
