65915 - Herbaceous Crops

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Docente: Guido Baldoni
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: AGR/02
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Land and agro-forestry Sciences (cod. 8525)

Learning outcomes

To develop competency in sustainable field crop management. This implies the knowledge of technical and scientific principles of the cultivation of major crops and the ability to modify the factors influencing the quantity and quality of crop yield. At the end of the course the student knows the cropped species, their requirements and the practices to obtain the main agricultural products.

Course contents

Prerequisites

The student following this lecture should have achieved solid knowledge of (general and systematic) botany and of general agronomy.

The course

During the class lecture he gets scientific and technical information on the cultivation of main field crops. Each crop is described on the basis of its economic importance, main morpho-physiological traits and environmental requirements. Its particular cropping techniques are discussed, together with the quantitative-qualitative parameters of its production. Crops are grouped according to the destination of their products. Each group is treated first regarding the socio-economic importance of its production then on the basis of its botanical and cropping peculiarities. For each group the main species is described in deep, only the main differential characteristics are underlined for the other crops.

The lecture addresses the following ESS of UNESCO

1.2.2.OSS2 (zero hunger)

1.2.13.OSS13 (Act on the climate)

1.2.15.OSS15 (The life on the Earth)

https://www.unibo.it/uniboweb/resources/people/documents/ObiettiviSviluppoSostenibile.pdf

http://efsandquality.glos.ac.uk/

The programme

The lectures are organized as follows:

1. Field crops _____ 4 hours

  • Definition, diffusion, economy and classifications

2. Cereals _____ 13 h

  • Description economy and classification
  • Wheat
    • Description and classification, economy, crop cycle and environmental requirements, cropping techniques, harvesting and production, product and by-products.
  • Winter cereals
    • Barley, oat, rye, triticale, teff, broad leaf cereals (quinoa and buckwheat)
  • Corn
    • Economy, botany and environmental requirements, cropping techniques, harvesting and products
  • Sorghum
    • Description, economy, classification, cropping
  • Millet, pearl millet, pennisetum
  • Rice
    • Botany, diffusion and economy, cropping technique, production and product

3. Pulses _____ 2 h

  • Description, economy and cllassification
  • Pea
    • Botany, cropping techniques, production and product
  • Horse bean
    • Botany and cropping
  • Chickpea, lentils, lupins
  • Beans
    • Botany, diffusion, cropping techniques, production

4. Oil crops _____ 3 h

  • Description, economy and classification
  • Soybean
    • Botany, economy and cropping
  • Sunflower
    • Description economy and cropping
  • Cruciferae oil crops
    • Description, economy, classification, canola
  • Peanut, linen, minor oil crops

5. Sugar crops _____ 2 h

  • Description and economy
  • Sugarbeet
    • Classification, botany and environmental requirements, cropping techniques, harvesting and product
  • Sugarcane

6. Energy crops _____ 1 h

  • Bioenergetic agriculture
  • Biofuels, bioethanol, biodiesel

7. Textiles crops _____ 2 h

  • Description, economy and classification
  • Cotton
    • Botany and economy, cropping
  • Hemp

8. Medicinal, aromatic plants and tobacco _____ 2 h

  • Medicinal and aromatic plants
  • Tobacco
    • Description economy classification, cropping techniques, cure and product

9. Tuber crops _____ 2 h

  • Description and economy
  • Potato
    • Botany, cropping techniques, product

10. Forage crops _____ 9 h

  • Hints on animal husbandry, description, economy, and classification
  • Forage conservation
    • Hay making, dehydratation, silage
  • Annual leys
    • Winter and summer leys
  • Pluryannual meadows
    • Monophytes Leguminous meadows, alfalfa, clover, white clover, minor leguminous for meadows
    • Graminacee meadows
    • Polyphythes meadows
  • Pastures
    • Description and management

Esercitations

To the class lectures (40 Hours) 20 h of practical activities are added, in order to increase the botanical knowledge of cropped species. To teach species identification students are shown actual seeds and pictures of adult plants of main crops. They visit the agricultural garden of the Department. During the farm visits they see the long term experiments where they can observe the conduction of some agricultural practices.

Readings/Bibliography

· BALDONI R., GIARDINI L. Coltivazioni erbacee: Cereali e proteaginose. Ed. Patron, Bologna

· BALDONI R., GIARDINI L. Coltivazioni erbacee: Piante oleifere, da zucchero, da fibra, orticole e aromatiche. Ed. Patron, Bologna

· BALDONI R., GIARDINI L. Coltivazioni erbacee: Foraggere e tappeti erbosi. Ed. Patron, Bologna

· BONCIARELLI U., BONCIARELLI F. Coltivazioni erbacee. Ed. Edagricole, Bologna

. AMICABILE S. Manuale di Agricoltura. III ed.Ed. Hoepli, Milano

For those who wish to study in English the following books can be recommended:

Principles of Field Crop Production (4th Edition)
by Martin John D., Leonard Warren H., Stamp David L., Waldren Richard P.
ISBN-10: 9780130259677
Pearson, 2005
[ https://www.amazon.ca/Principles-Field-Crop-Production-4th/dp/0130259675 ]

Crop Production
by Doy Shirley
ISBN-10: 168286376X
Syrawood Publishing House, 2017
[ https://www.amazon.ca/Crop-Production-Shirley-Doy/dp/168286376X/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537435244&sr=1-8&keywords=Field+crops+management ]

Teaching methods

Class lectures with overhead video presentations, practical experiences, including visits to the agricultural garden ( http://www.dista.unibo.it/Orto%20Agrario/web/webenglish/WEB_Dista_English/Welcome.html [http://http//www.dista.unibo.it/Orto%20Agrario/web/webenglish/WEB_Dista_English/Welcome.html] ) and to agricultural experimental farm where long term agronomic experiments are carried out ( http://www.scienzeagrarie.unibo.it/it/servizi-e-strutture/esperienze-agronomiche-a-lungo-termine-ealt ) Modifica

Assessment methods

As regard this lecture, in the final, oral, exam the student will be asked three questions: the first one regarding the peculiar characteristics of a certain group of crops, the second question on the cropping technique of a single species, the third on a forage crop. He will be evaluated on the basis of the acquired knowledge, on the ability of reasoning and of expressing his ideas.

Student can sit the exam in English language, asking for it to the professor, before starting the test.

Teaching tools

Power point slides shown by overhead video projector during the lectures. The slides are copied on the student's pen drives at the beginning of the course

Office hours

See the website of Guido Baldoni

SDGs

Zero hunger Responsible consumption and production Climate Action Life on land

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.