Training course of iGUESS-MED project at CREA, Pontecagnano-Faiano (Italy). 12 July 2023.
From 14:30 till 19:00 p.m. of 12 July, a training course was organized by CREA (Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops Council for Agricultural Research and Economics), to present the user manuals of the protocols, models and softwares involved in iGUESSMED Decision Support System. The event was aimed at technicians, agronosmist, and growers of Salerno province (high concentration of protected crops), and for this main reason presentations were made in Italian. University students and researchers were also present in the audience. In total the participatios was of 66 attendees (presence and online).
After a brief introduction explanation of the iGUESS-MED project by Dr. Alejandra Navarro Garcia, coordinator of iGUESSMED, training course presentations in Italian started as follow:
The first session consisted in 3 presentations, first one regarding tomato diseases, IDM, and biocontrol titled: “Protocolli dedicati per prevedere l'insorgenza di patologiee parassiti, aumentando i livelli di controllo biologico nelle coltivazioni di pomodoro delle serre mediterranee” by Dr. Catello Pane (CREA). After this , two presentation regarding tomato pest, IPM, biocontrol, and climate influence in IPM, where Dr. Marco Mosti (BIOPLANET) and Dr. Valeria Zeni (UNIPI) presented “Integrated Pest Management protocols” and finally Dr. Asma Laarif and Dr. Thameur Bouslama (CRRHAB) presented “The importance of climatic parameters in integrated pest management.”
In the second session, the models to determine precise irrigation and nutrition management in low-tech MED greenhouses with conventional and low-quality waters in soil systems were shown and explained. VEGSYST user manual (nutrition) was presented by Prof. Marisa Gallardo (UAL) and PrHo (irrigation) user manual by Dr. Maria Dolores Fernández (CAJAMAR).
In the third session, the SIMULHYDRO user manual was presented by Prof. Luca Incrocci (UNIPI) and Dr. Daniele Massa (CREA-OF) to explain soilless cultivation and the models used to determine precise fertigation (nutrition and irrigation) management in low-tech MED greenhouses with conventional and low-quality waters in soilless systems.
The last presentation was made by Dr. Esteban Baeza (FUTURE FARM Solutions) dealing the greenhouse climate control by adding small modifications or improving existing techniques in the MED greenhouses.
She is a is a Senior Researcher at the Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops of CREA (Italy). Her research interests and expertise are plant-soil-water relationships, plant physiology, abiotic stresses, precision sensors for diagnosing water status and estimating transpiration in plants. Coordinator of the PRIMA Project iGUESS-MED
Dr. Alejandra Navarro Garcia (CREA)
He is a Senior Researcher at the Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops of CREA (Italy). His research interests include development and implementation of methods and technological innovation aimed at improving the effectiveness and sustainability of plant disease management. He is the author of many peer-reviewed and dissemination publications on his research topics.
Dr. Catello Pane (CREA)
PhD candidate at the University of Pisa (UNIPI). Her PhD research focuses on the use of biological control agents, parasitoids, and predators to control pests in horticultural crops mainly in the Mediterranean region. as part of the European PRIMA project iGUESS-MED.She has worked from 2020 to 2023 actively for the PRIMA-iGUESSMED project in the UNIPI (Italy).
Dr. Valeria Zeni (UNIPI)
R&D manager at Bioplanet since 1999. Research activities on bioecology of Biological Control Agents and new Integrated Pest Management technologies. Coordinator of know-how transfer projects. Responsible for in-house training, professional updating and implementaton of educational activities.
Dr. Marco Mosti (BIOPLANET)
She researchs in plant protection and is specialist in insect pests of horticultural crops at the Regional Research Center on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture in Tunisia (CRRHAB). Her research axes are insect ecology, biology, laboratory rearing, IPM and biocontrol using microorganisms and botanicals.
Prof. Asma Laarif (CRRHAB)
Researcher in Plant and Environmental Protection and Plant Production Engineer. He has worked as a Postdoc Research Assistant for the PRIMA-iGUESSMED project in the CRRHAB (Tunisia) from 2020 to 2024. His research interests are integrated pest management (IPM), which emphasizes biological control and mathematical modeling of pest populations' occurrence and population densities.
Dr. Thameur Bouslama (CRRHAB)
She is a researcher of the Agri-Sustainability department of Cajamar Foundation, where she worked since 1997. She has experience in measuring and modelling the greenhouse crop evapotranspiration, incorporating this work into a practical DSS (PrHo) to irrigation scheduling for greenhouse crops. She has worked in different national and European research projects related to irrigation and N management for greenhouse-grown vegetable crops.
Dr. Maria Dolores Fernández (CAJAMAR)
She’s Professor of Plant Production at the Department of Agronomy in the University of Almeria. Her recent research has focused on irrigation and N management of horticultural greenhouse crops using a model-based approach and soil and plant monitoring.
Prof. Marisa Gallardo (UAL)
He is a Professor in the Department of Agronomy at the University of Pisa, Italy, specializing in protected horticulture and soilless crop cultivation. With 25 years of research experience, his work has primarily focused on irrigation management and fertilization of soilless crops. He has also developed two dedicated software programs to advance practices in this field.
Prof. Luca Incrocci (UNIPI)
He has found Future Farm Solutions (Spain), a greenhouse consulting company. His expertise is focused on modelling and improvement of natural ventilation systems in greenhouses, design of new greenhouse prototypes, testing and simulation of different cooling systems and heating techniques, development of new greenhouse concepts, CO2 enrichment, greenhouse climate modelling, among others.
Dr. Esteban Baeza (FUTURE FARM Solutions)