- Docente: Francesco Orsini
- Credits: 3
- SSD: AGR/04
- Language: English
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in International Horticultural Science (cod. 8883)
Course contents
Course contents (18 hours)
Lesson 1. Course introduction. General course introduction, course programme, practical experiences, workshops, field visits, teaching material final exam.
Lesson 2. Introduction to sustainable vegetable crop production. Population trends and food security.
Lesson 3. Current status of agricultural production. Introduction to sustainable agriculture.
Lesson 4. Evolution of current agricultural production and sustainable approaches to crop production. Differences between North and South of the world.
Lesson 5. Definition of agroecology. Low input agriculture. Biodynamic and Natural farming. Organic farming. Distribution at world level and case studies from USA, Europe and Italy.
Lesson 6. Vegetable crop production in the urban environment. Experiences in Latin America, Africa, South Easth-Asia. Urban Agriculture in Europe. Simplified soilless systems. Multidisciplinary research experience in urban agriculture.
Lesson 7. Innovative Business models for vegetable crop production in the urban environment.
Lesson 8. Nutrient management in vegetable crops. Traditional nutrient management in the Mediterranean. N balance sheet method. Dynamic N management guided by optical sensors. K, P, Mg, S, Ca, and microelement nutrition.
Lesson 9. Soilless systems for greenhouse vegetable production. Typologies. Closed and open loop systems.
Lesson 10. Water management in vegetable crop production. Plant requirements. Sensors and Decision support systems for dynamic water management in horticulture.
Lesson 11. The mediterranean vegetable crop production sector. Greenhouse systems and typologies.
Lesson 12. Indoor plant cultivation systems. Artificial lighting and LED technology for vegetable crops.
Practical workshops and groupwork (12 hours)
Workshop. Environmental assessment: Life Cycle Assessment in vegetable crops and urban horticulture.
Workshop. Literature review: Searching, analyising, elaborating datasets and research outputs in plant sciences.
Groupwork. International Student Challenge UrbanFarm2020.
Practical workshop: measuring plant physiological response to environmental stresses. At the experimental greenhouse facilities of DISTAL, measurements with leaf porometer and pressure chamber on salt stressed vegetable crops. Definition of light intensity and spectral composition.
Readings/Bibliography
Teaching material
Syllabus and slides available on IOL
Textbook
Quaryoti M., Baudoin W., Nono Womdin R., Leonardi C., Hanafi A., De Pascale S. 2013. Guidelines on GAP for greenhouse horticulture in the Mediterranean Region. FAO-UN, Rome, Italy. FAO paper, AGP series, 217.
Suggested reading
Orsini, F., Dubbeling, M., de Zeeuw, H., Gianquinto, G., Eds. (2017). Rooftop Urban Agriculture. Springer, The Netherlands. ISBN 978-3-319-57720-3.
Teaching methods
The course consists of theoretical lectures, practical exercises and groupwork in classroom and in greenhouse, technical visits and workshops.
Assessment methods
The exam will take place in both Teams and Zoom platform.
Students are requested to perform the exam on Zoom using a PC and have
another device (e.g. tablet/mobile phone) connected to Teams. A valid ID
and the student badge will be needed in order to confirm identity. The
videos of the exam will be recorded and may be used againt frauds or
irregolarities.
The test consists of 45 closed-ended questions chosen in the areas listed in the course program available in IOL. For each correct answer a score equal to 1 is assigned, for each wrong answer a score equal to -0.5 is attributed, while in the absence of an answer there is no penalty. The overall score is obtained by the algebraic sum of the individual scores. To pass the exam (and eventually access additional points collected throughout the course), students need to score at least 18 in the quiz and undertake a short oral discussion on the answers provided during the quiz. Cum Laude is awarded when an overall score equal to or greater than 32 points has been obtained.
The maximum duration for the written test is 60 minutes.
NB: The navigation method is sequential and the student must proceed neatly: it is not possible to go back or jump forward.
ATTENTION: when providing the answer (right or wrong) or when not answering and moving to the next question, it is not possible to go back and change the selection.
Teaching tools
Powerpoint presentations, exercises, theoretical and practical workshops.
Office hours
See the website of Francesco Orsini
SDGs
This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.