Sustainable weed management in different cropping systems

Since 1993, sustainable weed management team gained a distinguished experience in several areas of weed science, including eco-biology of weeds, integrated weed management, crop-weed competition, allelopathy, herbicide resistance in weeds, environmental fate of herbicides.

At present, the main research activities are related to studies on:

• Herbicide resistance of rice weeds, biology and competition of weedy rice and Echinochloa spp. with rice, effect of different rice management system on the dissipation of herbicides and metabolites
• Development of nanoformulations of herbicides, efficacy evaluations against weeds and environmental impact studies
• Weed community dynamics of rice and maize in different management systems
• Use of cover crops for weed management in maize and rice
• Weed biology, distribution and management of invasive exotic species (i.e. Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Phytolacca americana, Cyperus esculentus, Ailanthus altissima)
• Impact of runoff contamination from herbicides and assessment of efficacy of runoff mitigation measures, dissemination of Best Management Practices to reduce PPP water contamination
• Evaluation of agronomic, economic and environmental sustainability of various cropping systems and weed management strategies, effect of minimum tillage and no-tillage practices on weed evolution
• Effect of climate change on weed biology, effect of saline conditions on germination and growth of herbicides resistant and sensitive rice weed populations
• Innovative weed management techniques in rice production (green mulching with cover crops, transplanting)
• Innovative techniques for weed monitoring (i.e. metabarcoding, remote sensing).

The team is involved in regional, national and european projects. The team collaborates also with stakeholders from agricultural sector, plant protection products industry and public institutions on subjects related to sustainable weed management in agricultural and non-agricultural areas.

• RISO AMICO + “Il riso sostenibile che rispetta l’ambiente e valorizza l’impegno dei risicoltori” (Regione Piemonte, PSR 2014-20, mis. 16.1.1)
• RISOSOST “Percorsi agronomici innovativi per una risicoltura sostenibile”(Regione Lombardia, PSR 2014-20, oper. 16.2.01)
• PRIN RiWeCIS “Innovations for sustainable rice production: models, bio and nano-technologies for weed management” 
• Progetto Fondazione CRT:VERDERISO “Vantaggi agronomici della pacciamatura verde ed effetto sui metalli pesanti nel riso” (Fondazione CRT)
• TOPPS Prowadis, TOPPS Water

• Vidotto F., Fogliatto S., Milan M. (2022). A new and integrated approach to evaluate the environmental and ecotoxicological impact of herbicide mixtures: A case study in maize. Science of the Total Environment 842, 156862 doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156862
  
• Fogliatto S., Patrucco L., De Palo F., Moretti B., Milan M., Vidotto F. (2021). Cover crops as green mulching for weed management in rice. Italian Journal of Agronomy 16: 1850.
  
• Vidotto F., Dalla Valle N., Milan M., De Palo F., Tabacchi M., Ferrero A. (2021). Rapid increase of herbicide resistance in Echinochloa spp. consequent to repeated applications of the same herbicides over time. Archives Of Agronomy And Soil Science  67: 620-632. doi: 10.1080/03650340.2020.1741554
• Fogliatto S., Ferrero A., Vidotto F. (2020). Current and future scenarios of glyphosate use in Europe: Are there alternatives? In: Advances in Agronomy. Elsevier pp. 219–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.agron.2020.05.005
• Fogliatto S., Milan M., De Palo F., Vidotto F. (2020). The effect of various after-ripening temperature regimens on the germination behaviour of Ambrosia artemisiifolia. Plant Biosystems 154:165–72.

Cornell University, School of Integrative Plant Science Soil and Crop Sciences Section (USA)
University of Arkansas, Bumpers College Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences
Crop Life Europe, Brussels (Belgio)
Embrapa, Pelotas (Brasile)
Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas de Extremadura (Spagna)
Centre Français du Riz, Arles (Francia)
Benaki Phytopathological lnstitute, Atene (Grecia)