In the main strawberry areas of Southern Italy, cultivation is carried out by transplanting plants on raised beds (30–40 cm from ground level), mulched with black polyethylene (PE). This technique has becoming increasingly expensive due to the growing prices of plastic mulches, the cost to remove them at the end of crop cycle, and the difficulty to dispose of black, dirty plastic films. The main objective of this research was the replacement of PE mulch with a new biodegradable mulching film Mater-Bi^®-based (Novamont), characterized by an increased permanence in the field designed for long crop life. In 2021, two Mater-Bi-based, black, 18 μm thick mulching films were tested under tunnel: N5 as innovative film and N18 as commercial standard film. Black PE film, 50 μm thick was the control. Strawberry cultivars ‘Sabrina’ and ‘Elide’ were cropped on the three mulching films according to a split plot design with four replications. Harvests lasted from March to June 2021. Cvs Sabrina and Elide yielded around 40 t ha⁻¹, while the mean effect of mulching films did not point out differences between the biodegradable mulches and PE. In 4 out of 12 harvests we analyzed samples of fruits to assess the influence of mulches on the contents of °Brix, polyphenols, antioxidant activity, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, and anthocyanins. On average, °Brix was clearly improved in fruits on PE compared to biodegradable films, while all the other qualitative traits resulted in being more dependent on the cultivars and times of sampling effects. Overall, biodegradable mulches are a viable alternative to PE mulch, and the innovative N5 film appeared promising for the enhancement of durability of soil coverage in a long-lasting cycle.

The new perspective of using waste biomass to cultivate mushrooms as a source of protein for human nutrition, in line with the circular economy principles, is receiving increasing attention in the scientific community and represents great wealth in terms of environmental sustainability. Pleurotus eryngii is a mushroom also known as cardunculus mushroom due to its ability to grow on this plant. This study explores the potential intrinsic properties of cardunculus (for example, the presence of inulin in the roots) as raw material for the growth of cardunculus mushrooms, and the influence on heteroglycan content and nutrition parameters of the fruiting bodies. Both mycelium and fruiting bodies were used to determine the heteroglycan content in the presence of inulin or cardunculus roots rich in inulin. To produce heteroglycans from P. eryngii in greater quantities and shorter times without having to wait for the formation of the fruiting bodies, the mycelium could be used. The results showed that the presence of cardunculus biomass positively influences the heteroglycan content of P. eryngii. In terms of nutritional parameters, higher contents of polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and antioxidant activity were detected in P. eryngii grown on the cardunculus stem and root substrate. In conclusion, recycling cardunculus biomass to generate growth blocks for edible mushrooms is a winning choice due to the opportunity to use this biomass waste, which is gaining more and more attention due to the increase in cultivated areas and the use of fruiting bodies of P. eryngii as a functional food and source of molecules with potential biological activities.

Organic amendment and green manuring are two agricultural practices highly recommended to improve sustainability in agriculture since they show numerous beneficial effects on both soils and crops. The main aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of both, specifically organic fraction municipal solid waste (OFMSW) compost and horse bean (Vicia faba L., cv minor) green manure, combined separately or together with a mineral fertilization using synthetic products and in comparison with a mineral fertilization alone (control), on a top-quality tobacco crop (dark fire-cured Kentucky) grown in the cultivation district of Central Italy (High Tiber Valley, Tuscany region) in 2020 and 2021. The following parameters were measured: (i) leaf emergence rate (LER, leaves day⁻¹); (ii) crop growth rate (CGR, kg dry biomass ha⁻¹ day⁻¹); (iii) root weight density (RWD, mg cm⁻³); (iv) yield of cured product (CLY, Mg ha⁻¹). Analytical determinations were carried out on soil, sampled at the 0–0.3 m depth (organic matter, %; total N, %; NO₃-N, mg kg⁻¹; C/N; P and K, mg kg⁻¹), and on plant biomass (total N, %; NO₃-N, kg ha⁻¹). Soil water retention measures were also made. Water productivity (WP, kg cured product m⁻³ gross crop evapotranspiration, ET_c gross), irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE, kg cured product m⁻³ seasonal irrigation volume) and N agronomic efficiency (NAE, kg cured product kg⁻¹ mineral N applied by synthetic fertilizers) were calculated. Both the applications of OFMSW compost and horse bean green manure increased soil content of organic matter and main nutrients (N, P and K), as well as C/N, when compared with control conditions. There was an increase in soil water content in C conditions over the entire soil matric potential interval (0.04 to 1.2 MPa) with a maximum value at 1.2 MPa in both years. Both practices appeared promising for tobacco cultivation and could help to better address the nitrogen needs of the crop during the season and reduce potential water pollution due to nitrates. Considering the amount of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer saved by using both organic soil amendment and green manuring, there should be fewer potential carbon emissions due to the production, transportation and field application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

The feasibility of using a combination of organic fertilizer with a reduced rate of chemical nitrogen fertilizer as an alternative to conventional inorganic fertilization was tested on the growth and biomass accumulation of hemp plants and the phytochemical accumulation in their inflorescences. To achieve this goal, a field experiment was set up with the following nine treatments: F0, no fertilizer; NPK, mineral fertilizer with 100 kg ha⁻¹ nitrogen; C1, compost from solid digestate (50%) + cardoon-based spent mushroom substrate (50%); C2, compost from solid digestate (50%) + straw-based spent mushroom substrate (50%); C3, C4, C5, and C6, composts from solid digestate (50%, 67%, 75%, and 84%, respectively) and cardoon waste (50%, 33%, 25%, and 16%, respectively); SD, non-composted solid digestate. C1–C6 and SD were added to the soil, along with half the rate (50 kg ha⁻¹) of chemical nitrogen fertilizer. Taking F0 as a reference, all fertilized treatments, except C6 and SD, showed a notable increase in plant growth and biomass accumulation in the stem, inflorescence, and whole plant. Among the organic treatments, the best growth performances were detected in C1 and C5, which reached, or even exceeded, that of NPK. Compared to F0, all fertilized treatments had high phenolic acid and flavonoid yields, while high carotenoid, tocopherol, terpene, and cannabinoid (mainly CBD) yields were detected in all fertilized treatments except C6 and SD. Among the organic treatments, C1 and C5 stood out for their highest phenolic acid, flavonoid, carotenoid, and tocopherol yields, while C1, C2, and C3 stood out for their highest terpene and cannabinoid yields, which, in both cases, reached, or even exceeded, those of NPK. Overall, our findings show that 50% replacement of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer with C1 to C5 composts may represent a cost-effective and environmentally safe alternative to conventional inorganic fertilization that can sustain the growth of hemp plant and the phytochemical accumulation in its inflorescences, thus promoting the use of this crop for fiber and bioenergy production, as well as for applications in food, nutraceutical, agrochemical, and cosmetic sectors.

The effects of mulching films on the profiles of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from two strawberry cultivars, namely Elide and Sabrina, were evaluated by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction coupled to gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC-MS). Strawberries were grown on two biodegradable mulching films, named N5 and N18, in comparison to black polyethylene (PE). PCA models, separately performed on the VOCs dataset of the two cultivars, showed that the observations for each of the three mulching films lie in corresponding regions of the PCA plot, suggesting that the mulching films represented the main source of data variation, and hence, the variability of the VOCs profile induced by the mulching films overcame the cv-related one. For both the cultivars, a higher number of VOCs with a positive impact on the “sweet” taste sensation and consumers’ preference were positively correlated with strawberries produced on the biodegradable films compared to PE. However, there was an interaction between the type of cultivar and the mulches, as Elide responded better to N18 and N5 mulching films, while Sabrina responded better only to N18. Altogether, these results could contribute to assessing the effects of mulching type on putative volatile markers of the desirable sensory perception and consumers’ acceptability of strawberries.

A field experiment was conducted in 2018 at Marciano della Chiana (Arezzo, AR, Central Italy) with the main aim of investigating the effect of soil amendment with organic fraction municipal solid waste (OFMSW) compost and legume green manuring (Vicia villosa Roth, cv. villana) on a tobacco crop (dark fire-cured Kentucky type, cv. Foiano) grown under both full (100% of ET_c) and deficit (70% of crop evapotranspiration, ET_c) irrigation. The treatments are hereafter reported as GM (vetch green manuring) and NGM (no vetch green manuring), FI (full irrigation) and DI (deficit irrigation), and C (compost soil amendment) and NC (no compost soil amendment). The following parameters were calculated: (i) yield of the cured product (CLY, Mg ha⁻¹) at a standard moisture content of 19%; (ii) irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE, kg of cured product m⁻³ seasonal irrigation volume), nitrogen (N) agronomic efficiency (NAE, kg of cured product kg⁻¹ mineral N by synthetic fertilizers). Dry biomass accumulated in the stem and leaves (Mg ha⁻¹) was also measured at 25, 57, 74, and 92 days after transplanting (DAT). The N recovery from the different plant parts (kg ha⁻¹) was determined at 57 and 74 DAT. The C/N ratio, NO₃-N (kg ha⁻¹), the soil organic matter (SOM, %), and the soil contents of P₂O₅ and K₂O (mg kg⁻¹) were also analytically determined at 43, 74, and 116 DAT. Water retention measurements were carried out on soil samples at 116 DAT at 0–0.3 and 0.3–0.6 soil depths. Overall, there was a negative effect of both compost amendment and green manuring on yield. Green manuring and compost soil amendment improved soil chemical characteristics (i.e., SOM and C/N), as well as the plant N recovery, the IWUE, and the NAE. They increased the water retention capacity of the soil when the tobacco crop was deficit-irrigated and appeared to be promising practices to support the deficit irrigation strategy, contributing to reaching good agronomic results, although under the conditions of water shortage, and showing synergistic action in those conditions.