The microbiota of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheeses plays an essential role in defining their quality and typicity and could be applied to protect these products from counterfeiting. To study the possible role of cheese microbiota in distinguishing Grana Padano (GP) cheese from generical hard cheeses (HC), the microbial structure of 119 GP cheese samples was studied by DNA metabarcoding and DNA metafingerprinting and compared with 49 samples of generical hard cheeses taken from retail. DNA metabarcoding highlighted the presence, as dominant taxa, of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Limosilactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus spp., and Lactococcus spp. in both GP cheese and HC. Differential multivariate statistical analysis of metataxonomic and metafingerprinting data highlighted significant differences in the Shannon index, bacterial composition, and species abundance within both dominant and subdominant taxa between the two cheese groups. A supervised Neural Network (NN) classification tool, trained by metagenotypic data, was implemented, allowing to correctly classify GP cheese and HC samples. Further implementation and validation to increase the robustness and improve the predictive capacity of the NN classifier will be needed. Nonetheless, the proposed tool opens interesting perspectives in helping protection and valorization of GP and other PDO cheeses.

Within the European Union (EU), new plant varieties to be included in the Common catalog of a member state have to be registered on the national list after plant variety testing processes to establish whether the candidate variety is distinguishable, uniform, and stable (DUS) and meets the cultivation or use value requirement (VCU). Technical development, climate change, and changing consumer needs, including the detection of GMOs, necessitate the innovation of plant variety testing methods. In our study, we assessed new characters, testing methods, and inclusion of additional data for the potential to benefit the DUS and VCU protocols. To achieve our goal, we asked experts to fill in questionnaires for the DUS and VCU methods currently used for a selection of common crops, including potato, maize, lentil, oilseed rape, and perennial grass. Within the EU-funded “InnoVar” project, partners sent out questionnaires to 19 European Countries and to 3 countries outside Europe. Surveys were aimed at analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of the current methods. With their help, it is possible to look for a new direction, opportunity, and strategy to incorporate, together with the innovative new techniques, into the development of the new methods. Our study demonstrated that the SWOT analysis could be used to achieve the set goals. Results obtained after evaluation of surveys confirmed that introduction of new characters such as cold tolerance, nitrogen and water efficiency, etc. has become necessary, as has the inclusion of new test methods (molecular markers, precision techniques, organic farming). The development of high-yielding, disease and/or pest-resistant plant varieties with good adaptability and the accurate evaluation of genotypes play a crucial role in ensuring that farmers can access high-performing plant varieties and contribute to sustainable food production.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the interactions among wheat varieties and microorganisms within rhizosphere and how conventional agriculture affects these dynamics during the growing season. Indeed, little is known about how commercial bread varieties modulate root exudates and how agrochemicals affect the microbiological processes. Therefore, this study investigated the changes in soil microbiological features such as enzyme activities (β-glucosidase, xylosidase, glucoronidase, chitinase, leucine-aminopeptidase, acid and alkaline phosphomonoesterases, inositol phosphatase, phosphodiesterase, pyrophosphatase–phosphodiesterase, arylsulphatase) and microbial biomass as a function of treatment (fungicides and plant growth regulator—PGR) and wheat varieties (Skyfall, SY Moisson, Aquilante, Bandera, Tintoretto, Antille, and Bologna) at the sowing, heading, and harvesting stage. A total of 168 samples (2 treatments × 7 varieties × 3 field replicates × 4 sub-samples taken in each plot) were collected in each period and analyzed. We found that soil microbial biomass was a sensible indicator in the fungicide/PGR application, with reduced values in treated plots at the heading. At this stage, the soil enzymatic activities were in general more expressed, confirming that the microbial processes are more proactive due to the growth of plants. Overall, the soil enzymatic activities responded differently according to the wheat varieties, highlighting specific capabilities to interact with microbes.

Slope exposure is known to affect soil biogeochemical processes in mountainous forest ecosystems, but little attention has yet been paid to its influence at a soil aggregate scale. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of slope exposure (north- vs south-facing slope) on the physico-chemical and microbiological properties of bulk soil and dry-sieved and water-stable aggregate size fractions in both organic (OF) and mineral (AE) horizons in an Italian alpine forest. The changes in organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen (ON) fractions were assessed together with a battery of thirteen enzyme activities involved in the main nutrient cycles. In addition, soil biological properties including microbial biomass (estimated as double-stranded DNA content), and microbial activity (assessed as the ratio between the extra-(exDNA) and intracellular (iDNA) fractions of the total soil DNA pool) were determined. The OF horizon at the north-facing slope was enriched in recalcitrant and insoluble OC and ON fractions and characterized by a lower microbial activity, as indicated by the higher exDNA/iDNA ratio with respect to the south-facing slope. On the contrary, exDNA and iDNA contents, microbial biomass, as well as most of the enzyme activities, reached higher levels at the southern exposure in the AE horizon. These exposure-effects were bulk soil- and aggregate size fraction-specific. Overall, lower values of the chemical and microbiological parameters were found in the water-stable fraction. Our findings indicate that slope exposure (and thus topography), soil horizon, and aggregate size distinctly influence soil OC dynamics in mountain ecosystems.