Descrizione del progetto
Gettare le basi per migliorare la gestione idrica
Prolungare la stagione di crescita e aumentare la resa: sono i due obiettivi principali dell’agricoltura protetta, che si avvale della tecnologia al fine di migliorare l’ambiente per la crescita del raccolto. Ad esempio, l’agricoltura protetta impiega coperture per proteggere le coltivazioni da condizioni meteorologiche estreme quali le piogge intense, i forti venti o un’improvvisa ondata di freddo. Tuttavia, ciò altera i termini del bilancio idrico. Il progetto REWATERING delle azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) fornirà e convaliderà una metodologia per modelli sulla scala dei bacini idrografici per definire chiaramente il ruolo dell’agricoltura protetta nella quantità e nella qualità dell’acqua.
Obiettivo
Protected agriculture makes use of technology to create an optimal environment for crops growth. In particular, protected agriculture makes use of covers to shield crops from adverse meteorological events including storms, droughts, temperature extremes and strong winds. However, these controls inherently disrupt the water budget terms currently accounted for in hydrological modelling (runoff, evapotranspiration, soil moisture storage, infiltration, etc…). For the first time, the project REalistic WATER budgetING in protected agriculture (REWATERING) will deliver and validate a methodology for catchment-scale models (i.e. CATHY) to explicitly account for the role of protected agriculture on water quantity and quality. REWATERING will also unprecedently monitor water quality in a stream draining a small catchment mainly used for protected agriculture by means of high-resolution mass spectrometry. I will carry out REWATERING in a globally recognised research group for hydrological modelling. Overall, the host university will be the perfect interdisciplinary hub to accomplish the proposed research because it will provide internal collaborations with excellent academics in hydrology, agriculture and environmental chemistry. Protected agriculture is a growing reality worldwide, currently covering 15% of the agricultural lands, and often occupying entire hydrological catchments. The socially relevant and scientifically innovative interdisciplinary activities proposed in this research are urged to expand catchment-scale hydrological models to predict short- and long-term water quantity and quality resulting from water management characteristic of protected agriculture.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-PF - MSCA-PFCoordinatore
35122 Padova
Italia