Projects

Biogeochemical processes that occur at the interface between plant roots and the soil are widely recognized for their important role in the functioning of wetland ecosystems. This project aims at providing novel insights into the involvement of root iron plaques (IP) – oxide coatings precipitated on the root surface under anoxic soil conditions – as hotspots of iron (Fe), phosphorus (P) and carbon (C) cycling in redox-dynamic environments. By building on a conceptual model of element redox cycling in the rhizosphere and focusing on rice as a model wetland plant, we aim at elucidating how multiple biotic and edaphic factors are implicated in root IP formation and related functions. The effects of changes in root traits induced by different P availability, in combination with the presence of soil or plant-derived dissolved organic matter, on the chemical, mineralogical and structural variability of these Fe oxyhydroxide coatings will be evaluated at an unprecedentedly high spatial and temporal resolution. Additional empirical evidence for the underlying processes will also be provided by utilising artificial root systems that will allow to study the effects of specific variables on the interactions between Fe, P and C cycling at the root surface through a reductionist approach. 

Contact: Daniel Said Pullicino

Project website: link

Paddy soils represent major contributors to global GHG emissions though, at the same time, hold an important potential to sequester carbon (C). Soil processes driving the trade-off between methane emissions and C sequestration are however still not fully understood, especially due to the complex interactions and feedbacks between plants, soils and microorganisms. This collaborative research project between RAER and the University of Sydney will shed light on the plant-soil-microbe interactions responsible for regulating the soil C cycle. Research outcomes will therefore integrate our understanding of the effects of agricultural practices on the environmental sustainability of rice cropping systems worldwide, and contribute scientific knowledge essential to quantify the C economy and inventories of cropping systems that are at the basis of governmental policies.

Contact: Daniel Said Pullicino

In paddy rice agro-ecosystems, new water management strategies aimed at increasing water use efficiency (WUE) are strongly required to face the imminent challenges of achieving a balance between water availability and crop requirements. This is particularly important considering the ever more frequent meteorological anomalies in precipitation patterns and consequent water availability for agriculture. Apart from determining the water footprint of rice production, water management is also strongly related to other factors controlling the sustainability of rice cropping systems, including nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, arsenic and cadmium levels in rice grain. In this project we will evaluate the influence of alternative management practices (i.e. alternate wetting and drying) with respect to the conventional continuous flooding on grain yields and quality, WUE, NUE and GHG emissions with the aim of identifying and promoting the adoption of more resilient and sustainable water management practices in the Italian rice cropping area.

Contact: Luisella Celi

Project website: Link

In paddy rice agro-ecosystems, improving fertilizer use efficiency is of great importance for enhancing the economic and environmental sustainability of rice cropping. While the management of nitrogen fertilization has received great attention even with the identification of emerging agronomic practices that favour N use efficiency, phosphorus fertilization in Italy is still largely empirical, with a large knowledge gap compared to other rice producing countries. The main goal of the P-RICE project is thus to improve the knowledge required for revising management practices in order to increase P use efficiency, reduce the inputs of chemical fertilizers for protecting water and soil quality without affecting rice productivity.

Project website: www.p-rice.unito.it

Contact: Maria Martin

Cover crops offer various ecosystem services that contribute to the sustainability of intensive cropping systems. In particular, leguminous plants may represent an important source of N due to their capability of fixing atmospheric N2. Through the mutualistic association between plant roots and nitrogen fixing bacteria, biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) contributes significantly to the N budget of legumes contributing to as much as 65-95% of the total N uptake by the plants. The plant contributes to the symbiosis by transferring important amounts of photosynthates to the bacteria, which can represent up to 12-28% of the C allocated to the roots. Furthermore, the considerable requirements of ATP for BNF activity imposes a great P demand on the host plants, creating a close interaction between the allocation of N, P and C. The project aims to evaluate how P availability may directly (by affecting nodule formation and function), or indirectly (by impairing the photosynthetic capacity of the host plant and C delivery to nodules) influence the efficiency of BNF, and the strategies that plants adopt to enhance P acquisition in P-poor soils.

Contact: Daniel Said Pullicino

Enhancing the agro-environmental sustainability of rice cropping depends on the identification and adoption of novel agricultural management practices. The RISTEC project aims at promoting the adoption of alternative agricultural practices, such as winter flooding, green manuring with cover crops, and adoption of conservative agriculture. These practices can help overcome the most pressing challenges the rice cropping sector is facing such as the decrease in soil organic matter and the consequent loss of soil chemical and biological fertility, the low nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency, as well as the important emissions of greenhouse gases from rice paddies (e.g. methane). Further project details can be found on the website www.ristec.it 

Contact: Luisella Celi 

Understanding the C source/sink functions of paddy soils remains a challenge for developing sustainable rice cropping systems. Carbo-PAD aims at providing fundamental research into the functional role of these soils in global C cycling, particularly at the soil-water-atmosphere interface and over a range of scales. We will evaluate how mineral-organic associations affect the structural and functional characteristics of dissolved organic C (DOC) pool, and how these are influenced by both biotic and abiotic processes in soils that experience alternating redox conditions. We will also elucidate how soil properties and microbial community structures influence the key factors linking C stabilization and methane production. These fundamental insights will provide the basis for further understanding how agricultural management practices influence DOC dynamics and methane emissions at field-scale.

Contact: Daniel Said Pullicino

Adaptation of food production to a future drier climate has and will lead to further adoption of water saving alternative irrigation management (AIM) in paddy rice production. A standing paradigm of ongoing efforts is: will the  mitigation of methane generally associated with AIM increase the emission of nitrous oxide. Over several decades a large number of field experiments have been conducted in which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been monitored. A synthesis of the gathered knowledge of these unsystematic field measurements is needed to come to a valid testing of the effectiveness of mitigation options. However, at the same time most commonly research findings are inconsistent, with management affecting methane and nitrous oxide fluxes at some locations but not at others or even in an opposite direction. Clearly, causal relationships between management or site factors and GHG-balances are most often complicated by interactive effects. To really understand and account for these we need a quantitative and mechanistic understanding of the coupling of organic matter, N, and mineral transformations and fluxes and how they are regulated by redox potential, degree of soil development and microbial community structure and function. The overarching aim of this is to fundamentally tackle knowledge gaps on GHG production processes in floodplain paddy soils under AIM. This multidisciplinary project that will bring together research scientists from Ghent University, University of Torino, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zurich) and the University of New Hampshire, is funded by the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI).  

Contact: Luisella Celi 

The baby food sector represents an important market for Italian rice producers, particularly those located in Lombardy. Recently, sales in this sector have dropped due to an increase in product quality demands by the market. The main critical issues are related to the contents of arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) in the grain that sometimes exceed the limits (0.10 and 0.04 mg/kg, respectively for inorganic forms) set by the EU Regulations for baby food rice or due to even more restrictive commercial regulations. Mycotoxins may also be considered as emerging contaminants because their presence in cereals produced in Northern Italy is increasing and could prevent rice from maintaining its quality. The project aims at developing strategies for the production of high quality rice, mainly dedicated to the baby food sector, to favour rice production in the region, and reverse the negative market trend in this specific sector. This will be achieved through the identification of appropriate agricultural practices that prevent or reduce the accumulation of contaminants in the grain.

Contact: Maria Martin

This project aims at developing two industrial processes for the production of renewable energy through the utilization of rice straw, thus favouring the supply of low cost byproducts for the agro-energy industry. Moreover, these processes will represent an additional economic income for rice farmers and a feasible alternative to straw burning in those cases where straw incorporation into the soil has negative impacts on rice production. Apart from the objectives related to the production of renewable energy, the project will evaluate the negative impacts of rice straw removal (e.g. reduction in soil fertility) and identify agricultural practices to contrast them, such as the return of anaerobic digestates to the soil.

Contact: Dario Sacco