Nuove tecnologie per la green economy: utilizzo di drone in agricoltura e studi per l'utilizzo di Nicotiana tabacum L. come coltura oleaginosa

Use of drone in Agriculture The objective of this study was to determine the capability of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to acquire multitemporal images of a durum wheat field for assessing the crop growth variability at different crop stages. Four flights were carried out with RGB and NIR cameras to estimate the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and its relationship with biomass and green leaf area index (LAI). Significant correlations between LAI and NDVI and Biomass and NDVI were founded at tillering and at anthesis: R2 for NDVI vs. LAI reached 0.677 (P < 0.001) at tillering and 0.798 (P < 0.001) at anthesis, R2 for NDVI and Biomass was 6.18 (P < 0.002) at tillering and 0.85 (P < 0.001) at anthesis. On the contrary, no correlations were found at early growth stage and at ripening stage. The NDVI map showed an evident spatial variability both at tillering (NDVI value starting from 0.42 to 0.73) and anthesis (NDVI values ranging from 0.53 to 0.82) suggesting that UAV could be an useful and crucial tools for precision farming cultivation, since can provide relevant information in a relatively short time. Using Nicotiana tabacum L. as oilseed crop The present study was conducted to study the agronomic results of Nicotiana tabacum L. grown in different sites for the production of vegetable oil used in the industry of biodiesel and jet fuel. The experimentation was carried out on by Sunchem holding Ltd. which holds the patent for the use of tobacco for the production of bio-diesel and jet fuel. In the first year was evaluated the productive vocation of 10 areas traditionally used to grow classic tobacco. It was also verified the potential to get more harvested in the same cycle of cultivation. They were set up leaders experimental density of 5 plants per square meter in Veneto, Umbria, Apulia, Bulgaria, North Carolina, Brazil into the state of Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do sul in Brazil, in Cape town and in the region of Limpopo in South Africa; in order to test the productivity of the tobacco seed. The best production results were obtained in Limpopo region in the northeast of South Africa, where the climate BSh (semi-arid steppes hot) according to the International Classification of Koppen. In Limpopo, it was possible to harvest three times in a season, for total production of 6.5 tons per hectare of seed. In the second year, it was to evaluate the increase in production achieved with the support irrigation. The research was conducted in the site where was recordered the best production among the 10 tested in the first year of study, then in Limpopo region of South Africa. They have been compared three techniques for irrigation, micro irrigation, irrigation by pivot and using sprinklers. The results showed that the pivot and micro irrigation have significantly raised the productivity of the crop. The third year of the trial was carried out in Italy, in Calvi (BN), to evaluate the possibility of reducing the investment of plants per hectare and to evaluete if the cutting of the main vegetative apex in pre-bloom may stimulate the hatching of gems axillary. The expected result was a greater production of flowers and then capsules to increase the yields. The large spatial variability of fields chosen by Sunchem did not allow obtaining results clear and unambiguous. The results allow only guess that it is possible to slightly reduce the costs of cultivation, adopting a slight reduction of the population in m2, about 4 pt / m2 instead of the traditional density of 4.8 pt / m2. The technique of topping showed no increases in yields in terms of the number of capsules and seed product.